The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women to correct its identification of the nation as a “province of China” on its Web site.

The organization, also known as UN Women, yesterday posted an image that outlined countries and regions of the world that legally allow same-sex marriage.

The image contained a flag of Taiwan, which was labeled as “Taiwan, Province of China.”

“China is taking credit for something it did not do and the UN is complicit in propagating falsehoods. Taiwan is not a part of China and that is the reality,” the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York said in a comment on UN Women’s Facebook post.

UN Women was also the cause of controversy in April when it sent a tweet about Taiwan’s first female baseball umpire, Sophiyah Liu (劉柏君), who it also said was from “Taiwan, Province of China.”

That tweet was later deleted and Liu’s place of residence was given as “Chinese Taipei.”

Comments on UN Women’s latest post ranged from those expressing gratitude for recognizing Taiwan’s legalization of same-sex marriage while calling on it to change the way it refers to the nation, to those condemning the UN for the gaffe.

“The reason Taiwan could recognize same-sex marriage is because we have democracy and mature civil society, and WE ARE NOT A PROVINCE OF CHINA!! TAIWAN IS TAIWAN!!” Social Democratic Party politician Jennifer Lu (呂欣潔) wrote.

“Thank you for recognizing Taiwan, but we are not a province of China,” a user surnamed Kao wrote.

[Taipei Times, 2019-08-05]