On August 3 Germany’s table tennis team defeated Taiwan in the quarter-finals of the Tokyo Olympics.

Today (August 4) one of the members of the German team, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, put out a statement on China’s micro-blogging platform Weibo, calling Taiwan “China’s Taipei”. 

Chinese Weibo users praised Ovtcharov for his choice of words.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to seize it by force if all “peaceful” options are exhausted.

Taiwan takes part in the Olympics under the name “Chinese Taipei” in order to avoid disputes with Beijing.

The PRC and Chinese government supporters often harass, intimidate and threaten people or organizations who refer to Taiwan as a country.

Last May US actor John Cena apologized profusely for calling Taiwan a country during an interview.

In July the PRC consulate in New York and government media slammed NBC for showing a map of China that did not include Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea.

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