Taiwan is a sovereign independent nation. I know this because President Chen has said so on numerous occasions. Whether China (or any of the nations that China pressurises, or the UN, or indeed the KMT) acknowledge this is a separate issue.

However, I might have to reevaluate this fact now that the font of all knowledge in the universe (otherwise known as ‘Google’) has decreed otherwise:

Taipei, Oct. 3 (CNA) Google’s listing of Taiwan as a “province of China” on its map section has raised the ire of the opposition Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) , which is asking the public to e-mail the popular search engine in protest.

At a news conference, TSU legislators Huang Shih-cho, Tseng Tsan-deng and Huang Tsung-yuan lashed out at Google for succumbing to China’s pressure. Taiwan is not a province of China, they claimed, and saying as much is a tremendous affront to Taiwan’s sovereignty.

The TSU lawmakers called for Taiwan citizens at home and abroad to e-mail Google to protest its rudeness and insensitivity by lying about Taiwan’s sovereignty simply to curry favor to enter China’s large Internet market.

They said that Google’s behavior should not be condoned any longer. Otherwise, they said, Taiwan’s sovereignty will be unwittingly infringed upon.

They want Google to immediately change Taiwan’s map description from “Taiwan, Province of China” to “Taiwan, An Independent State in Asia.”

Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government Information Office who were also present at the news conference agreed with the TSU legislators.

Here’s the proof that Google are a signed up member of the ‘One China’ club. I must admit though, that I am rather intrigued to find if you search for ‘台灣’ (i.e. Taiwan in Chinese characters) Google gets a bit confused and suggests 10 different places in Japan.

So, maybe things aren’t so cut-and-dried as they might seem. After all, if Google can’t decide whether Taiwan is a Chinese province or a Japanese suburb, then what chance have you or I of working it out?

[Thanks to Wolf Reinhold for pointing out this news story]