A 7-Eleven store in Beijing is pictured on Jan. 7, 2022. (Kyodo)

       BEIJING (Kyodo) -- Japanese retailer Seven & i Holdings Co.'s China-based 7-Eleven convenience store business has been fined for describing Taiwan as an independent country on its website, Chinese authorities said Friday.

       The authorities also criticized the company for displaying maps that do not contain Chinese names for the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, claimed by Beijing, as well as for several islets in the South China Sea.

       The Beijing municipal government has imposed fines of 150,000 yuan ($23,532) on Seven & i, according to the authorities.

       China and democratic Taiwan have been governed separately since they split in 1949 as the result of a civil war. The Communist-led government has regarded the self-ruled island as a renegade province to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

       The Senkakus, a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, are called Diaoyu in China, with Beijing arguing they are its "inherent territory."

       China has frequently sent official vessels to waters around the Senkakus in an attempt to lay claim to them, while the United States and Japan have agreed that the islands fall under the scope of their bilateral security treaty.

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