China is angered by Apple's iPhone event mentioning Taiwan

Is there any argument why Taiwan should be treated as anything other than a normal, independent country? I know that China wants to claim sovereignty, but a want is not an argument. I don't mean this as a rhetorical question--I am curious if there is any coherent argument here?

Puerto Rico was listed separately from the United States, and it's clearly not a political statement. I think Apple is safe here. Apple should turn this around and say China is showing its ignorance on US sovereignty over Puerto Rico :p

The presenter was even careful to call them &quot;locations&quot; which annoyed me at the time as PR speak-- and then doubled down and said &quot;someone sees their favorite country or location&quot;.<p>Chinese propaganda, nothing to see here.<p>The exact timestamp in the talk: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=wFTmQ27S7OQ&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;t=6056" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=wFTmQ27S7OQ&amp;feature=youtu.be...</a>

Sorry, but Taiwan has been totally independent from China for many decades. I guess only China considers Taiwan still a part of China.

The One China issue has long ago morphed from a rational point of consensus, into an irrational point of oppression.<p>The attitude has changed drastically, when all the original members of those discussions have been replaced by next generations, and no one can remember the original concilliary tones of those meetings, and all that remains are misunderstandings -- that was how the splits between Catholics and Protestants, Sunnis and Shias, probably happened, and passed down in increasingly dogmatic interpretations.

&gt; commentators on Weibo accused Apple of disrespecting China and threatened to return all their Apple products.<p>Is this a thing that people will actually do?

But the fact is from a consumer perspective, you&#x27;d actually want to know the difference between China, HK, and Taiwan. If a company said they offered tech support in China, would you assume that meant HK or Taiwan as well? I&#x27;d definitely inquire further. While the situation in HK may be evolving, Taiwan has been de facto independent for a long time, which changes things on the consumer-level.<p>Assume at your own buyer&#x27;s risk. For things like the Apple Watch, I would just double-check.

sometimes China is a dick.<p>actually, a lot of the time: consider Xinjiang and Tibet. the fact that we can&#x27;t afford to shun them as they deserve doesn&#x27;t mean they&#x27;re not being very, very naughty.

The key points to know about the significance of Taiwan:<p>Geography is still very significant. The potential for others to base aircraft and ships on Taiwan keeps China contained behind the South China Sea.<p>Taiwan is a hard target for amphibious invasion, and amphibious invasions are hard to begin with. The seas around Taiwan are quite rough, and there are only two potential beaches for such a landing. The time frame friendly to such an operation is also quite limited.<p>Basically, if China keeps on ramping up its blue water naval capabilities, some kind of confrontation is inevitable between the USA and China over the South China Sea and the US position as distant ally&#x2F;hegemon to Korea, Japan, and other east Asian countries.<p>China&#x27;s Geographic Challenge: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=H8uWoBtCkg8" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=H8uWoBtCkg8</a>

I doubt many in the Chinese government could explain rationals for the One China policy any more.

Good? China needs to come to terms with reality. What&#x27;s happening in the South China Sea is scary.

I&#x27;m fine if Taiwan declares independence but they should stop using the words &quot;Republic of China&quot; to represent themselves and to renounce their claim to mainland China, Taiwan isn&#x27;t China and should never represent China, if they want to be treated as a separate nation, the first thing they should do is stop using the name of China.