Following a protest from the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), Apple Inc has stopped referring to Taiwan as a province of China on its Web site.
Instead, Taiwan is now listed as a separate country along with more than 20 others ranging from Australia to the US.
A senior official at Apple conceded that the company committed an “error” and that it had been corrected.
FOUND BY EMPLOYEE
The mistake was first noticed by a Taiwanese-American employee of Apple who wrote to FAPA about it.
The employee found that Taiwan was listed as a province of China on the company’s “Jobs at Apple” Web site, which is accessible to the general public.
CHINESE ‘PROVINCE’
If an applicant clicked on “China” under “Country” on the Apple employment page, the drop-down menu provided five Chinese “provinces” to chose from: Beijing, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai and Taiwan.
“It is of course an incontestable reality that Taiwan is not a province of China,” FAPA president Bob Yang (楊英育) wrote to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs.
SOVEREIGN COUNTRY
“Taiwan is a sovereign independent country with its own elected president, its own military and stock exchange,” he wrote.
“If American citizens travel to Taiwan, the Chinese embassy is unable to issue a visa to Taiwan,” Yang added.
“In light of the fact that several Apple products are manufactured in Taiwan itself, I ask that Apple correct its terminology in reference to Taiwan and stop referring to Taiwan as a province of China,” Yang wrote.
In a letter of reply to Yang, the senior Apple official wrote: “This is to confirm that the error in Apple’s job posting, listing Taiwan under the provinces of China, has been corrected. Thank you for bringing the matter to our attention.”
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
RSS