Gap Sorry For T-shirt China Map Without Taiwan

US clothing retailer Gap has apologised to China over a T-shirt with a map showing the mainland but omitting Taiwan, becoming the latest foreign firm to run afoul of Beijing's policy on the island.

Beijing has taken airlines, hotels and other companies to task in recent months for listing Taiwan as a separate country on their websites.

The Gap shirt, which was sold in overseas markets, features a map of China, but Taiwan does not appear to the southeast of the country, according to a photo of the company's online store posted on the Twitter account of the official People's Daily newspaper.

The state-run Global Times newspaper said the map also omitted South Tibet and the South China Sea, and that it had prompted hundreds of people to complain on Gap's official account on China's Weibo microblogging website.

The US company issued its apology on Weibo late Monday, saying it "respects the integrity of China's sovereignty and territory".

"We are terribly sorry for this unintentional mistake. We are doing internal checks to correct the mistake as soon as possible," Gap said.

"We have removed the product from the Chinese market and destroyed them all."

The company said it strictly abides by Chinese law and will devote itself to greater scrutiny to avoid similar errors in the future.

The Global Times quoted Gap as saying that the T-shirt had not been released in China.

US hotel chain Marriott, Spanish clothing giant Zara and a slew of airlines have faced Beijing's wrath for not classifying Taiwan as part of China on their websites.

The White House hit back at the push earlier this month, calling the demands placed on airlines "Orwellian nonsense". (AFP)