
An educational globe toy portraying Taiwan as a part of China at the insistence of Beijing is to be withdrawn, the Japanese firm that makes it said Thursday. The talking "Smart Globe," aimed at Japanese children, gives information about countries when they are touched. The 29,400-yen globe, manufactured in China by Japan's Gakken Toys Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Gakken Co. Ltd., proved to be popular, with the first batch of 10,000 quickly selling out after its release last year. The globe shows "Taiwan Island" and says that it is "the People's Republic of China," the official name of communist mainland China, which claims the island. Gakken said it received complaints and apologised for its "inappropriate expression and display" on the globe. "We deeply apologise for causing a tremendous nuisance," the company said in a statement...A Gakken spokesman said the company had initially planned simply to display "Taiwan," as is standard in Japanese school textbooks, but Beijing intervened. "The place of production was China," he said. "The Chinese government's stance was that we could not export unless we changed the expression"...more...