After a map showed during the entrance of Chinese athletes contained neither Taiwan nor the South China Sea, China chastised NBC Universal for providing a “incomplete map” of the country during its broadcast of the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony.
In a tweet on its official Weibo social media network on Saturday, the Chinese Consulate in New York said the display “damaged the dignity and emotions of the Chinese people.”
Comcast-owned NBC, which broadcasts the Olympic Games in the United States, did not respond to a request for comment given through its official contact form.
“We urge NBC to acknowledge the severe significance of this situation and take measures to fix the error,” the Chinese consulate wrote, without specifying why it objected to the map.
The broadcast of the Olympics and the display of the map were also condemned by China’s state-controlled Global Times newspaper.
Maps’ references to self-ruled Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea have stirred controversy in recent years, with Johns Hopkins University last year reversing a decision to show Taiwan as part of China on a map indicating the spread of the coronavirus.
Two years ago, U.S. retailer Gap Inc apologized for selling a T-shirt that it said had an incorrect map of China. A picture posted to social media showed that the T-shirt did not include the island of Taiwan or the South China Sea.