Associated Press

BEIJING - China says the United States has apologized for mistakenly describing Chinese President Xi Jinping as the leader of Taiwan.

Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Monday that China asked the United States for an explanation of the mistake, and the U.S. said it was a technical error and corrected it.

In a statement issued Saturday about a meeting in Germany between Xi and U.S. President Donald Trump, the White House press office described Xi as president of the Republic of China, the formal name for Taiwan. Communist China, led by Xi, is called the People’s Republic of China.

The issue is particularly sensitive because Beijing insists that Taiwan is part of its territory.

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