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Christian Dior has become the latest foreign brand to apologise to China for misrepresenting its territory.
The French luxury brand was criticised on Chinese social media site Weibo for reportedly using a map of China that excluded Taiwan at a presentation.
The company apologised for the “mistake in representation” made by one of its employees.
Fashion brands including Versace, Givenchy and Coach have recently been caught up in similar controversies.
The “Dior statement” was one of the top 10 most searched items on Weibo.
“The company firstly deeply apologises for the incident on 16 October 2019 where a member of the Dior HR team was … giving a presentation when (the employee) made a mistake in representation and gave an incorrect explanation,” the company said in its statement.
Christian Dior said it had done a “diligent investigation”, adding it would “seriously handle” the matter.
“Dior has always respected and upheld the principle of one China, strictly upholding China’s rights and complete sovereignty, treasuring the feelings of Chinese citizens,” it added.
Sensitivities over the representation Chinese territories have grown in recent months as clashes between pro-democracy protestors and police in Hong Kong have escalated.
Beijing considers self-ruling Taiwan to be a breakaway province.
Versace in August apologised after an image on one of its T-shirts appeared to imply Hong Kong and Macau were independent territories.
Coach and Givenchy have also faced a backlash recently over the representation of Chinese territories on some of their garments.