TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A map released by U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) on women in politics incorrectly designates Taiwan as a part of China.

The Women in Politics map is supposed to show the participation rate of women in government and parliamentary positions around the world as of Jan. 1, 2021. Taiwan, however, is colored red, the same as China, in addition to not being labeled.

The U.N. map ranks China 86th in terms of women in parliament, with 742 seats (24.9 percent) held by women out of a total of 2,975 seats. This means that Taiwan’s 113 parliamentary seats — 47 of which are held by women — were not even included in the U.N.’s data.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in New York said in a Facebook post that the map excluded Taiwan and disregarded the country’s “hard-won” progress in terms of gender equality. “We have a democratically elected female head of state 蔡英文 Tsai Ing-wen and 42% of our lawmakers are women,” TECO said. It added, “’For Democracy. For Everyone.’ shouldn’t just be a slogan,” in reference to the IPU’s tagline.

TECO New York Director James Lee (李光章) told CNA that what Taiwan has achieved in terms of gender equality is self-evident. He added that it is well-known that the country elected a woman as president, and it is also an undeniable fact that Taiwan is not part of China.

Taiwan’s New York office has lodged an official complaint with the U.N over its flawed map and also appealed to U.N. Women to separate Taiwan from China on the graphic. Taiwan is not a member of the U.N. due to Chinese pressure on the international organization.

Women in Politics map (IPU image)