A television game show raised eyebrows with a question and answer that critics say was politically loaded -- identifying Taiwan as China's biggest island.
ATV insisted yesterday it was not trying to play politics on the latest installment of Hong Kong's version of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire quiz program.
"Our question was politically unrelated. It was a purely geographical question," said ATV spokesman Timothy Wong. "ATV doesn't have any absolute political stance."
Wong said producers found the answer in two geography reference books, although he said he wasn't sure where they were published.
A contestant scored a point by responding that Taiwan was China's biggest island -- but some viewers were unhappy with what they saw.
The South China Morning Post quoted Luisa Tamm, a Taiwanese who lives in Hong Kong, as saying she became "emotionally angry" after the show aired on Wednesday night.
Few Taiwanese want to rejoin China on Beijing's terms and many people in Hong Kong, which was handed back from Britain to China in 1997, believe Taiwan is doing fine on its own.
"Reunification should not take place on ATV," Tamm was quoted as saying. "They shouldn't just slip a political thing like that in there."
Taiwan's representative office in Hong Kong, which ostensibly operates as a travel agency since China does not recognize Taiwan's government, declined to comment.
Since Hong Kong was returned to China, there have been accusations that many here are toeing Beijing's line more closely.
ATV and rival broadcaster TVB became embroiled in controversy two months ago by referring to Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian (
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