White House refers to Xi Jinping as President of Taiwan in major gaffe

How embarrassing

In a major diplomatic gaffe, the White House media office mislabelled the leaders of China and Japan in press statements released after US President Donald Trump's bilateral meetings with the two leaders.

On meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the White House statement referred to the leader as "President of the Republic of China" which is the official name for Taiwan. The president of the island of Taiwan is Tsai Ing-wen, who is one of the most powerful women in the Chinese speaking world and also an arch-rival of Jinping.



https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/883757531184730112

China considers Taiwan one of its own territories and does not recognise its sovereignty. Most countries in the world maintain limited diplomatic relations with Taiwan in line with the one-China policy.



Earlier on the same day, after Trump's meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the White House press statement referred to him as "President Abe of Japan".

https://twitter.com/PeterHoskinsTV/status/883763978995994624

In another noticeable gaffe, President Trump's official Instagram mislabelled the Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong as Joko Widodo the President of Indonesia.

We know Singapore is small, but really, @realDonaldTrump, maybe you shouldn't have made all those cuts at State: @AltStateDpt, FYI. pic.twitter.com/VjGcAglk2x

— saliltripathi (জয় বাংলা!) (@saliltripathi) July 9, 2017