A local religious festival in Zhushan, Nantou, has been drawn into the island's unification-versus-independence dispute over three characters on a sponsors' banner — an unwelcome development for both the temple and the sponsoring associations.

• The Zhushan Great Sage Cultural Festival has just wrapped up, and members of the public noticed that the name of the United Federation of Nantou County Native Place Associations on the sponsor banner was prefixed with "Taiwan Region."

• Critics say China has consistently described Taiwan as a "region," and that a civic group billing itself this way amounts to self-belittlement and an endorsement of Beijing's formulation.

• Zhengjue Temple responded that it had checked with the sponsoring organisation beforehand, and that the group's registered full name already contains the words "Taiwan Region."

• The temple said it hopes outsiders will not turn a straightforward religious event into political manoeuvring.

Outlook: The dispute is likely to centre on whether the association should change its name, and on how local temples handle sponsor billing in future.