On Wednesday, the National Football League (NFL), raised eyebrows by claiming Taiwan was part of mainland China.
The NFL announced that 18 teams were granted access to 26 International Home Marketing Areas in eight countries as part of a program to allow teams access to international territories for fan engagement, commercialization, and marketing.
Christopher Halpin, chief strategy officer and growth officer of the league, stated that “NFL fandom begins with our clubs.”
“This important initiative enables NFL teams to develop meaningful, direct relationships with NFL fans abroad, driving fan growth and avidity globally,” he continued. “We were very pleased with the number, creativity and level of commitment of club proposals across the board in this initial application period and look forward to teams launching their efforts early next year.”
The map was also used by the NFL to show which countries would be partners with it — critics online quickly pointed out that the map claimed Taiwan was part of mainland China.
This NFL map claims that Taiwan is part of China. https://t.co/rQ1fUs8hgm
— Jerry Christmas 🎄🎅🏽 (@JerryDunleavy) December 15, 2021
Fox News Digital asked NFL why Taiwan, also known as Republic of China, was included in the Communist-ruled continent.
The NFL did not respond immediately to the request for comment.
As the Chinese Communist Party (led by President Xi Jinping) sets its sights on Taiwan, the map is revealed.
After reports that a Taiwanese minister had shown a map showing China and Taiwan, the White House was under fire.
“It was clearly policy concerns,” one source told Reuters of Taiwanese Digital Minister Audrey Tang’s video feed getting cut off to only audio on Friday when she showed a map differentiating Taiwan and China. “This was completely an internal overreaction.”
