TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The organizers of a prestigious computer vision event held in South Korea have kowtowed to pressure from China over how Taiwan is addressed.

Beijing allegedly forced the International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV) to change the depiction of Taiwan to a region of China, rather than a country in its own right, in a slideshow presentation about publications produced by participating countries. The event, taking place in Seoul between Oct. 27 and Nov. 2, is a conference comprising workshops and tutorials sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) protested against the move in a statement, castigating China for “brutally interfering with international exchanges in technology and shamefully undermining academic freedoms,” wrote CNA.

“The act will not change the objective reality that Taiwan is not part of China, only adding to the resentment among the people of the island towards China,” it rebuked. MOFA has instructed the island’s de facto embassy in New York to contact the US-based IEEE, asking the organization to resist pressure from Beijing over its erroneous claims, the report said.

As the island has faced an increasing number of similar bullying tactics over the years, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu posted on Twitter last month asking the world to “stand up to the bully” regarding the incorrect jurisdiction claims China asserts over Taiwan. The post came at the heels of a public apology to China by luxury fashion brand Dior for a PowerPoint presentation depicting Chinese territory administered by Beijing.