The Chinese ambassador to South Korea has ordered Chinese artists to withdraw from the 16th Gwangju Biennale, which opens September 5, in protest of the Gwangju Biennial Foundation allowing Taiwanese exhibitors to participate under the name ‘Taiwan.’

In a meeting with Gwangju Mayor Min Hyung-bae, Ambassador Dai Bing expressed his ‘regret and concern’ over the decision to restore the name ‘Taiwan Pavilion’ at the request of Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture. The Gwangju Biennale Foundation had previously renamed a satellite exhibition from ‘Taiwan Pavilion’ to ‘NTMoFA Pavilion,’ referencing its commissioning institution, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts.

The two parties disagreed over the circumstances surrounding the name change, with Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture accusing the GBF of ‘political censorship’ in an August 15 statement. The biennale was established in 1994 to commemorate the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, a deadly chapter in South Korea’s struggle against military rule, during which upwards of 2,300 South Korean civilians were estimated to have been killed.

On Tuesday, the Gwangju Biennale Foundation announced that Taiwan’s exhibition at its September edition can open as the ‘Taiwan Pavilion,’ and be advertised as such in its promotional materials. The GBF said, ‘There is not much time left until the opening on September 5, and we are closely monitoring the situation, hoping the exhibition will proceed smoothly.’