Gap has apologised for selling a T-shirt which had an image of an incomplete map of China.The T-shirt doesn’t feature territories which are claimed as Chinese, including south Tibet, the island of Taiwan and the South China Sea.

The products have been pulled from the Chinese market and destroyed. , Gap added it would implement rigorous reviews to prevent a repeat mistake and that it respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China.

Gap's apology comes as China has been ramping up efforts to police language used to describe Chinese-claimed territories such as Taiwan.

China claims a number of contested territories, but is particularly sensitive about Taiwan, a self-ruled island that it considers to be a province of China that will eventually be fully reunified.

Earlier hotel chain Marriott was forced to shut down the Chinese version of its website for a week and fast-fashion retailer Zara was ordered to complete a self-inspection and turn in a rectification report when the companies' websites listed certain areas, including Taiwan, as countries.

China also wrote to 36 foreign airlines demanding they stop referring to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau as countries.

Earlier this month, the White House sharply criticized China's efforts to force foreign airlines to change how they described Taiwan.