#China boosts Olympic gold medal count with Taiwan, Hong Kong

The Olympics may be over, but Chinese state media is still going for the gold.

One of the communist country’s official outlets found a way to boost its nation’s second-place medal haul ahead of the leading United States, by including the medals won by Taiwan and Hong Kong in the tally, according to reports.

China Central Television listed the nation as having 42 gold medals under their inflated and inaccurate count, three ahead of the 39 that the US took home, and four more than China alone really took home, the Free Beacon reported.

The graphic circulated on Weibo, a local social media platform, according to the outlet.

The US also beat China in the other medal counts by winning 41 silvers to 32, 33 bronzes to 18, and an overall tally of 113 to 88.

In addition to the news outlet, some Chinese social media users also clumped Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau on Weibo to give the enlarged “China” 42 golds, 37 silvers and 27 bronzes for a total count of 110, the Taiwan News reported.

“Congratulations to the Chinese delegation for ranking first in gold medals and the total number of points,” they wrote.

Last week, China Daily correspondent Chen Weihua posted of photo on Twitter of a tally showing the US ahead in the overall medal count — but behind China in gold.

 “U.S. media always finds a way to put [the United States] on top,” he wrote, the Free Beacon reported.

The International Olympic Committee requires Taiwan, which the Chinese Communist Party claims is part of China, to compete as “Chinese Taipei.” Announcers referred to the country as “Chinese Taipei” to appease Beijing.