Taiwan's political system is mystifying. I spent a lot of time reading about the history and the current relation to PRC (essentially like 'Greater China' or 'United China'). My wife worked in Taipei (electronics), so I can always hear from someone who knows this better. China has been turning into the 'new Japan' in the sense that it's silently occupying and crushing dissent in neighbouring countries and islands. It expands its empire by force and by oppression. By restricting journalism it limits what the outside world knows about it. One might as well call it the Great PR Wall of China (the 'people's'). Taiwan has its own government and on the Internet/Web it has its own suffix, .tw.

"For Apple to simply label the Taiwanese people "Chinese" would be like calling Cypriots "Turks" or "Greek"."For Apple, a vicious and ruthless company that detests even its own customers if they don't toe the party line (we often compare it to North Korea for this reason), using the near equivalent or prison labour makes perfect sense. Apple uses factories in areas that have weak worker/employer regulations and where pay/working hours are incredibly inhumane. Apple got bad publicity over this and it's not too selective (different countries and provinces in Asia have different rules and practices). A country which pretends to be communist (for the 'people') while actually serving few billionaires (capitalism) -- both domestic and foreign -- is a good match for Apple, so it should make nobody wonder that Apple tries to appease and even appeal to China (Microsoft does the same thing, but that's another story).

I was horrified when I read that Apple is now showing Taiwan as though it's just a "province of China" [1] because it's like China has just silently taken over (people in Taiwan are mostly prepared to fight for their lives to defend from Chinese takeover). This is insensitive and one might wonder if it's intentional rather than an accident. It's hard to get this type of stuff 'wrong'. There is a known controversy here, similar to that of the Palestinian territories (among several other feuding nations/ethnic groups). Fictitious maps are the best kind of propaganda [2] because they help distort facts and misrepresent history [2]. Here in Europe there is great demonisation of immigrants (especially in Greece [3]) amid ethnic tensions and growing clannish tendencies (it's hardly better in north America [4]). For Apple to simply label the Taiwanese people "Chinese" would be like calling Cypriots "Turks" or "Greek". It's beyond tactless and it is insulting to many. ⬆

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Taiwan protests Apple maps that show island as province of China





2. We Have Been Misled By An Erroneous Map Of The World For 500 Years

   
   
   It was featured in "The West Wing," but map dishonesty is anything but fictional. Check out this clip to get an accurate look at the size of Africa.





3. Tell EU Member States: Save Greek "undesirables" from internment camps!

   First migrants and recent immigrants were rounded up from Greece's streets and forced into internment camps





4. North Dakota town to halt construction in bid to stop white supremacist influx

   A hate-crimes fugitive from Canada bought several lots in Leith and is encouraging other white supremacists to move there