Alwaght- Russia and China rebuked the use of a controversial map in this year's Tokyo Olympic Games, which has excluded disputed territories from the two countries.
The deletion of Crimea as part of Russia and Taiwan as part of China in a map published by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), was protested on Saturday by the embassies of the two countries.
Crimea reunited with the Russian Federation in 2014, when Crimeans held a referendum voting for their separation from Ukraine.
However, the Black Sea territory was depicted as part of Ukraine on the map, sparking criticism from Russia.
The Russian embassy in Japan condemned the move, saying it hoped the IOC will make changes to the map used during this year's Olympic Games.
It called on Japanese officials to return the original map, which had depicted Crimea with a border separating it from Ukraine. The map was changed due to pressure by Ukraine, according to reports.
In a similar move, the Chinese embassy in the United States condemned America's TV broadcaster NBC for showing a map of China that did not include Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) as part of Chinese territory.
China has sovereignty over the self-ruled island under the internationally accepted "One China Policy."
The Chinese diplomatic office stated on its Weibo social media account that NBC's move had "hurt the dignity and emotions of the Chinese people."
It called on the American TV news network, which is the sole Olympics broadcaster in the US, to correct its mistake on the map. "We urge NBC to recognize the serious nature of this problem and take measures to correct the error."
