Taipei, Mar 16 (AP) The organisers of a marathon in southern Taiwan, including a member of the self-governing island republic's legislature, apologised Sunday after giving out prizes in the shape of a golden Chinese machine gun.

Legislator Hsu Chi-chieh, of the ruling Democratic Progressive party that favours the island's independence from China, apologised and said the use of the image of a Chinese QBZ-95 on trophies for top winners was an unintentional mistake. Those given the trophies would be given the option of choosing a different one.

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China claims Taiwan as its own territory and threatens to use force to bring it under its control.

In an address to the island last week, President William Lai Ching-te reminded residents that Taiwan law designates mainland China as a “foreign hostile force” and said tougher measures were being taken to prevent Chinese subversion through the media and civic exchanges. Lai warned also of the danger of influential figures and serving and retired members of the military selling secrets to China.

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Underscoring the apparent incompetence behind the incident, the Fengshan Marathon held near the major southern port of Kaohsiung wound its way through the Taiwanese Military Academy, the Army Infantry Training Command and the Chung Cheng Armed Forces Preparatory School, all affiliated with the Defence Ministry.

The Fengshan Road Running Association apologised for the use of the Chinese rifle and said a weapon had been selected because of this year race's affiliation with the military, but said nothing as to why a weapon in current use with China's ground forces was chosen.

The Defence Ministry was quoted by the official Central News Agency as saying it had provided facilities but had nothing to do with organising the race or the choice of prizes.

Military service, now lengthened to one year, is compulsory for all Taiwanese men, making them familiar with rifles and other weapons used by the army. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)