Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

The anger towards Apple in this thread is misdirected. The US government's official stance recognizes "that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China" and that "the United States does not support Taiwan independence"

From: https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-taiwan/

Why should Apple be expected to take a political stance at odds with the official Chinese and US government policies?

The only way the US was allowed to trade with China is if it accepted the one China policy. The US is FORCED to not accept Taiwan.

Taiwan is not part of China. Period.

You forgot the first part of the US statement:

“The United States acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China.”

> Why should Apple be expected to take a political stance

It is really a political stance to have Unicode Emoji 1.0 as a feature?

I'll quote the full text "the United States recognized the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China, acknowledging the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China."

I'll put the emphasis on "Chinese position"

The US's relationship with Taiwan is much more nuanced than that. Taiwan-US relations are actually at the closest they've ever been. For example:

1. US sells $8B of fighter jets to Taiwan (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/approves-8bn-sale-66-...)

2. US passes the TAIPEI act, which outlines the US's strategy in dissuading Taiwan's few remaining diplomatic allies from switching recognition to China. (https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/340...)

3. Visa free travel in the US for Taiwanese citizens (https://www.export.gov/article?id=Taiwan-Visa-Requirements)

The US might officially not recognize Taiwan as a country, but would it sell $8B of military equipment to a country it truly believed to be China?