An educational globe toy portraying Taiwan as a part of China at the insistence of Beijing is to be withdrawn, the Japanese firm that makes it said.
TOKYO: An educational globe toy portraying Taiwan as a part of China at the insistence of Beijing is to be withdrawn, the Japanese firm that makes it said on Thursday.
The talking 'Smart Globe', aimed at Japanese children, gives information about countries when they are touched.
The 29,400-yen ($270) globe, manufactured in China by Japan's Gakken Toys Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Gakken Co. Ltd., proved to be popular, with the first batch of 10,000 quickly selling out after its release last year.
The globe shows "Taiwan Island" and says that it is 'the People's Republic of China', the official name of communist mainland China, which claims the island.
Gakken said it received complaints and apologised for its 'inappropriate expression and display' on the globe.
"We deeply apologise for causing a tremendous nuisance," the company said in a statement. It said it had advised subsidiary Gakken Toys to stop selling the globe. The group will offer full refunds starting next week for those already sold.
A Gakken spokesman said the company had initially planned simply to display 'Taiwan', as is standard in Japanese school textbooks, but Beijing intervened.
"The place of production was China," he said. "The Chinese government's stance was that we could not export unless we changed the expression."
"We obeyed it although we had wavered on if we should follow the Chinese instructions or give up" on the product, he said. "We have faced accusations that we lack common sense."
A similar globe by another Japanese manufacturer does not speak even if the user touches Taiwan. Taiwan and China have been been ruled separately since splitting in 1949 at the end of a civil war. Relations have been tense ever since, with the militaries in both nations on permanent alert for any sign of attack.
Japan, like most countries, only recognises Beijing, which considers Taiwan to be an integral part of China awaiting reunification.
Since it switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1972, Tokyo has barred official contacts with Taiwan, a former Japanese colony, even though the island enjoys widespread sympathy among Japanese conservatives.
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