TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s flag appeared next to China’s on a map at an event in the Thai capital Bangkok as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum meetings started, reports said Thursday (Nov. 17).

However, while official events avoided the use of flags in order to play down politics, the stand of Bangkok Bank, one of Thailand’s top banks, at an APEC forum featured a map with the names and flags of the countries where it had branches.

Instead of using names like “Chinese Taipei” as the result of Chinese pressure, the map had a pin with the official flag and the name “Taiwan” representing the country, the Liberty Times reported. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) responded that it was following official APEC rules, but certain events featured private and unofficial organizations.

At ministerial meetings in Bangkok Thursday, Taiwan was not allowed to be represented by its foreign minister, but instead sent its top trade negotiator John Deng (鄧振中) and National Development Council (NDC) Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫). The Nov. 18-19 leaders’ summit will see Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) represent Taiwan.