TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A South Korean professional esports team has canceled a Taiwan trip after Chinese netizens complained it had referred to it as an "overseas country," but its apology has angered South Koreans for kowtowing to Beijing.
Generation Gaming, also called GenG Esports and owned by KSV eSports Korea Inc., was scheduled to go to Taiwan for a meet-and-greet with fans at the NUZONE venue in Taipei on Dec. 30. However, GenG on Wednesday (Dec. 20) suddenly canceled the trip and issued an official apology for a previous announcement which Chinese fans claimed insulted China, reported GNN Gamer.
The South Korean chair brand SIDIZ, in celebration of its gaming chair GC PRO entering the Taiwanese market, will host a year-end launch party. It originally planned to invite GenG team members, including Chovy, Peyz, Lehends, Canyon, and Kiin to interact with fans in Taiwan during the event.
The GenG fan page shared this information. However, it appears the announcement drew a backlash from Chinese netizens as it referred to Taiwan as an "overseas country," and the post was deleted.
On Wednesday, it issued an apology saying, "GenG unswervingly respects and upholds China's sovereignty and territorial integrity." Regarding the deleted announcement, the team said, "The relevant text contained a serious error due to lax review. We deeply apologize for this and all the content has been deleted."
The team closed by saying it would not attend the Taiwan product launch event.
Also on Wednesday, SIDIZ said on its Facebook page that, "Due to changes in GenG's schedule, the 12/30 GC PRO launch event cannot be held as scheduled. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience."
Under a Korean version of the apology on the GenG Facebook page, South Korean fans criticized the team for bowing to Beijing posting comments such as "Taiwan No.1," "The pro-China communist spies have even infiltrated the game board...," "Neutrality is copying the same Chinese garbage communism statement," and "Is this a team that dreams of the Chinese dream? The representative should resign!!!"
