'Country' wins out over 'state' during internal Wikipedia debate over Taiwan's status
Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/15
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Wikipedia entry for Taiwan. (Google screenshot)
Over the years, the Wikipedia entry for Taiwan has frequently been a target of vandalism by Chinese nationalists and China apologists seeking to demote Taiwan's status as a sovereign, independent country. In a request for comments (RFC) page created to debate the proper status of Taiwan in its Wikipedia entry, editors in May fiercely debated the merits of referring to Taiwan as a "state" or a "country."
The debate boiled down to a battle over "state" versus "country" as the best term to provide a more neutral point of view (NPOV) for Taiwan. The criteria the editors decided to base their decision on was "what is commonly used?" and "what is the most accurate?"
Those arguing for the term "state" claimed that because many global organizations do not recognize Taiwan to be an independent country, the term "state" would be more accurate. Pro-"state" editors also alleged that the term was more commonly used by the media.
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