Chinese Mainland dismisses 'dwarfing Taiwan' accusations

The Chinese mainland has dismissed accusations that it had "dwarfed" Taiwan by changing how the island was addressed on mainstream media.

Mainland's China Central Television addressed Taiwan at the 2017 Asian Table Tennis Championships on April 11 as "Zhongguo Taipei" instead of "Zhonghua Taipei," reports the Global Times.

Zhongguo and Zhonghua both mean China, but Zhonghua refers to a general concept of a Chinese nation, while Zhongguo refers to the People's Republic of China.

The act sparked criticism from Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Katherine Chang, who said that her "government" would not accept this "unilateral act of dwarfing."

Meanwhile, the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang on Wednesday said that mainland media has always reported on Taiwan-related events according to the one-China policy and that the so-called "act of dwarfing" does not exist.

"Our policy is consistent and has not changed. Taiwan's table tennis team is participating based on arrangements made by Olympic committees across the Taiwan Straits," said Xiaoguang.

The cross-Straits relations are already strained since Tsai Ing-wen administration came to power in May last year in Taiwan as it refuses to acknowledge the 1992 Consensus, which stresses the one-China policy.

Taiwan's attitude has irritated Beijing, which considers the 1992 Consensus the very foundation of all cooperation. As a consequence, the number of mainland tourists to Taiwan has fallen 36.2 percent in the seven months since Tsai took office.