User blog comment:Chinaisimmortal/NEW! Proof that China is a Girl!/@comment-1271618-20100127031944

Yao is indeed a unisex name, yeah. If you were to assign a human name to Nyotalia-China (who is quite the girl), it'd probably be the same thing (or maybe rendered differently).

Himaruya did joke about China's gender on the character distinction chart, but he also put Lithuania and Poland as "unsure" characters, to reflect how they could be mistaken too.