A War Thunder Taiwan controversy has emerged following a recent update made to Gaijin Entertainment's military vehicle game. Fans have been enjoying blowing each other to bits with weapons of war for years now, but some real-world politics have unfortunately crept their way into the game and fans are understandably not happy about the situation.
China's Policy on Taiwan
First, a bit of background for those of you who aren't too knowledgable about geopolitics. Taiwan is in a tricky position in terms of its status as a nation. China claims that Taiwan is part of China and that there is only "One China". Conversely, Taiwan is effectively independent under the banner of the Republic of China, although they haven't gone full 1776 and declared it all official-like.Part of the reason that Taiwan hasn't declared independence is the very real threat of China immediately attempting an invasion. It would be an awful mess, not only for the region but for the world at large. Consequently, Taiwan is effectively independent but technically still a part of China, depending on how you look at things.
The War Thunder Taiwan Controversy
One of the consequences of this One China policy amounts to a whitewashing of history where they pretend that Taiwan's (and consequently, the Republic of China) history went a little differently. That is reflected in the War Thunder Taiwan controversy.The image in our header shows a tank listed with a People's Republic of China (the really big country) flag. The problem is that this tank is the CM-11 Brave Tiger, a vehicle jointly developed by the United States and the Republic of China (Taiwan). Essentially, the removal of this flag can be interpreted as denying Taiwan's independence.
Understandably, people are upset about this, and the anger of some fans is best reflected in responses to the official tweet highlighting the CM-11.
https://twitter.com/furrythrowaway/status/1169939311501946880
Several other responses are spamming the Republic of China flag or otherwise calling out Gaijin Entertainment on the decision.
It's unknown whether or not Gaijin Entertainment will correct this historical inaccuracy, but it's probably not all that likely — the game has been published in China since 2014 in partnership with Tencent holdings. Restoration of the correct Republic of China flag would likely put their operations in that country at risk, so for now, gamers will probably have to put up with this regrettable situation.
What do you think of the War Thunder Taiwan controversy? Is the historical inaccuracy a big deal to you or do you think it's not all that important in the grand scheme of things? Let us know in the comments below!
