The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, which maintains an interactive map tracking the number of coronavirus cases worldwide, has changed how it refers to Taiwan, Axios has learned. Instead of "Taiwan," the map now uses "Taipei and environs."
Why it matters: The change tracks closely with how the Chinese government prefers to refer to Taiwan, which it views as part of Chinese territory.
- Screenshots from early February show that the JHU coronavirus map still used "Taiwan" as a category under a section called "Confirmed cases by country/region."
- But now the map uses "Taipei and environs," referring to Taiwan's capital city and surrounding areas.
What they're saying: When contacted by Axios, Lauren Gardner, an associate professor of civil and systems engineering at JHU who directs the map project, at first said they would be changing it back to "Taiwan" immediately.
- However, a JHU spokesperson later said they would retain the term “Taipei and environs” and would be adopting the World Health Organization naming scheme, which also uses “Taipei and environs” to refer to Taiwan.
The big picture: Over the past several years, the Chinese government has increasingly sought to control how international organizations and companies refer to Taiwan, insisting that they change the wording to align more closely with the Chinese Communist Party's "one China" principle.
- In 2018, the Chinese government threatened airlines around the world with retaliation if they did not change wording on websites and on-plane reading materials.
- Those airlines now list the capital of Taiwan as simply "Taipei" or as "Taipei, China."
Go deeper: China's push to erase Taiwan
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include new comments from JHU, and the phrase "one China" principle has been clarified to reflect the Chinese government's position.
