World Cup Pins for Taiwan
Here is a weird story reported by the Taipei Times. I haven't been able to find independent confirmation for either the news story or the facts behind the lack of Taiwan pins, but here is the photo and a piece of the news report.
The Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) reported yesterday that soccer fans have been unable to collect a complete set of World Cup pins from McDonald's restaurants because China has confiscated the Taiwan pins, which were made by a Chinese factory. The newspaper said that McDonald's, a 2006 FIFA World Cup sponsor, launched a promotional campaign this month in Taiwan, giving customers who order a Big Mac a complimentary World Cup pin. McDonald's restaurants in Taiwan are giving out 33 pins -- one for each of the 32 World Cup countries plus Taiwan. The Taiwan pin looks the same as the other World Cup pins but is printed with Taiwan's formal name, the Republic of China (ROC). . . . However, McDonald's yesterday denied that the absence of Taiwan pins was due to confiscation by Chinese authorities. A public relations firm in Taiwan retained by McDonald's said that the restaurants had merely run out of Taiwan pins and apologized to consumers, the report said. "We've already ordered more [Taiwan pins], and they should be available around June 20," a McDonald's representative said. |
If anybody has more info, feel free to leave a comment!
Anyway, this entire news story -- if it is news -- simply reflects several very old trends in the cross-Strait standoff. The first and most obvious is the endless wrangling over Taiwan's name.