Italian luxury brand Bulgari apologized on Tuesday evening after its official website's simplified Chinese version was found to have listed "Taiwan" with Asian countries, instead of using "Taiwan region" or "China's Taiwan".

The brand released a statement on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo, saying that it "steadfastly and always" respects China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"Our brand has immediately corrected the mistakenly marked store addresses and map indications on the overseas official website, which resulted from management negligence," said the statement.

"We deeply apologize for the mistake!"

The luxury brand said it is cooperating with third-party international service providers to ensure the correct representation of relevant countries and regions on the overseas official website.

On Tuesday afternoon, some posts on Weibo said that China and Taiwan were listed separately on the website.

The posts quickly triggered public anger on Chinese social media.

According to reports, Bulgari's celebrity endorsers in China include actress Liu Yifei, actor Yang Yang and model Liu Wen.

Bulgari belongs to France's LVMH group. It mainly produces jewelry, watches, leather goods, accessories and perfumes.