• Former NBA star Dwight Howard is getting backlash in China for calling Taiwan a rustic.
• China claims Taiwan as a part of its territory, and doesn’t acknowledge it as an unbiased nation. 
• Howard’s assertion has been trending on Chinese language social media, in line with the BBC. 

Former NBA star Dwight Howard known as Taiwan a rustic, and now he is dealing with backlash in China.       

In a promotional video with Taiwan’s vp Lai Ching-te, Howard — who now performs for an area Taiwanese basketball league — stated, “Since I got here to Taiwan, I’ve gained an entire new appreciation of this nation.”

The otherwise-benign video was supposed to advertise a contest the place the winner will get to spend an evening in Taiwan’s presidential workplace, Howard calling Taiwan a rustic is angering some folks in China. The Chinese language authorities views Taiwan not as an unbiased nation however as a part of its territory.

The brief video has triggered the hashtag “Howard Taiwan independence” to development on Chinese language social media, with greater than 400 million views on Weibo simply since Thursday night time, in line with the BBC. 

One Weibo account in China, the place basketball is broadly fashionable, wrote, “Is he loopy? The promotional video has apparent Taiwan independence characters, how may he comply with do it…,” the BBC reported. 

Vice President Lai additionally referred to Taiwan as a “free nation” within the video.

Throughout an occasion in Yilan County on Friday, Howard apologized to reporters, saying there was a “communication barrier,” CNN reported.

“If I offended anybody in China, I apologize,” Howard stated, CNN reported. “It was not my intention to hurt anybody with what I stated within the business.”

“I’m not a politician. I do not need to get entangled in any politics,” he added, in line with CNN. “I’ve the utmost respect for Chinese language folks and utmost respect for Taiwanese folks, so it was by no means my intent to disrespect no person.”