(TibetanReview.net, Jul26’21) – While the rest of the world watches the postponed Tokyo Olympics 2020, which opened on Jul 23, for its games and sports competitions, China has been seeing it as an opportunity to further its global declaration of extraterritorial claims.
On Jul 24, China criticized NBC Universal for showing an “incomplete map” of the country in its broadcast of the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. Its apparent grouse was that a map displayed during the arrival of Chinese athletes included neither Taiwan nor the South China Sea.
Taiwan, a self-governed island, was not a part of the founding in 1949 of the communist Chinese ruled People’s Republic of China while its South China Sea claims are maritime territories legally belonging to a number of other countries. An international tribunal affiliated with the United Nations even rejected its South China Sea claims vis-vis-vis the Philippines in a binding 2016 ruling.
Nevertheless, the Chinese consulate in New York said the NBC Universal display “hurt the dignity and emotions of the Chinese people” in a post on its official Weibo social media platform on Jul 14.
The www.cnbc.com Jul 25 noted that while the Chinese consulate had not specified why exactly it objected to the map, it noted the fact that the latter had said: “We urge NBC to recognize the serious nature of this problem and take measures to correct the error.”
NBC Universal, the parent company of NBC News which owns the US broadcasting rights to the Olympic Games, has not commented so far.
A number of global brands have succumbed to China’s pressure on this issue in recent years.
China’s party mouthpiece the Global Times newspaper also criticized the Olympics broadcast and the display of the map.
On Taiwan, Carlos Del Toro, US President Joe Biden’s nominee for Navy secretary, said earlier this month at his confirmation hearing that defending Taiwan from China in every way possible was “incredibly important,” noted sports.yahoo.com Jul 24.
China has not ruled out invading the island to make it a part of the PRC.