Japanese retailer Muji is the latest foreign company that drew China's ire for using packaging that lists Taiwan as a country.

It was fined RMB200,000 (~S$42,022) in Shanghai.

Muji had since made corrections and changed the packaging.

Taiwan is an extremely sensitive territorial issue for Beijing, which considers the self-ruled island as a renegade province and has not ruled out the use of force to bring it under Chinese control.

Fined for hurting China's dignity

According to Reuters, the packaging that marked Taiwan as the "country of origin" was used for 119 clothes hangers imported from Japan last year.

According to a statement released by the Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce, the Muji packaging violated Chinese advertising law which warns against hurting China's dignity and interest.

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Not the first time

This is not Muji's first time to be criticised by China for failing to get its geography right.

Its Shanghai unit also pulled a catalog in January this year due to an "inaccurate" map with wrong borders and missing islands.

The islands in question are Taiwan and Diaoyu islands (known as the Senkakus to Japan).

In January, US airline Delta apologised for listing Taiwan and Tibet as countries on its website.

Hotel chain Marriott International's Chinese website was also suspended for listing Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong and Macau as countries in a customer questionnaire.

Top image via Muji China

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