Qatar Alters World Cup App That Treated Taiwan as Part of China
- Taiwan listed in Qatar’s Hayya app as ‘province of China’
- Taipei urged organizers to immediately fix ‘unfriendly move’
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Organizers of November’s soccer World Cup in Qatar appeared to give in to outrage from Taiwan officials and altered a ticketing system that had identified Taiwanese attendees as hailing from China.
Taipei’s ire was sparked by Qatar’s launch this week of its Hayya card app, which aims to facilitate soccer fans’ access to the country and games. In the initial version of the app, there was no option for fans from Taiwan to register for their Hayya card. As of Wednesday, Taiwan was listed in the dropdown menu of nationalities as “Taiwan, Province of China.” By later in the day, it was listed only as “Taiwan.”