“One of China’s top government-linked think tanks has called out Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and other foreign companies for not referring to Hong Kong and Taiwan as part of China in a report that provoked a stern reaction from Taipei,” Yimou Lee and Josh Horwitz report for Reuters. “The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) said in a report this month that 66 of the world’s 500 largest companies had used ‘incorrect labels’ for Taiwan and 53 had errors in the way they referred to Hong Kong, according to China’s Legal Daily newspaper. It said 45 had referred to both territories incorrectly.”
“China last year ramped up pressure on foreign companies including Marriott International and Qantas for referring to Taiwan and Hong Kong as separate from China in drop down menus or other material,” Lee and Horwitz report. “A spokesman for Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan would not bow to Chinese pressure. ‘As for China’s related out-of-control actions, we need to remind the international community to face this squarely and to unite efforts to reduce and contain these actions,’ Alex Huang told reporters in Taipei.”
Lee and Horwitz report, “Nike Inc, Siemens AG, ABB, Subaru and others were also on the list.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: You can’t control the world, China.
1) Many companies taken to task are simply using terminology for ‘business region’ (like Apple did in their last product launch) and not political.
2) Hong Kong is part of China but has very different business set up (hence it’s usually put into a different business region by companies).
Hong Kong was a Chinese territory ceded to Great Britain after China lost the Opium War (which started when the British East India company — a drug cartel – tried to force China to allow british traders to bring in opium to China. Opium grown in British Burma, now the drug region called the Golden Triangle. China like the USA DEA had wanted to stop drugs but it lost). Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997 after the surrender treaty expired.
3) Taiwan is vaguely historically part of China. It was taken over by the remnants of the Kuomintang party that lost the Chinese Civil War to the Communists in the 1940s. The defeated army ran to Taiwan and set up there. China Considers Taiwan a ‘rebel province’.
4) In spite of the rhetoric China and Taiwan have close business and social ties.
For example Foxconn (Hon Hai) which assembles Apple products is a Taiwanese company with numerous factories in mainland China.
Do you not find your comment a little condescending? What – like we didn’t know this stuff already? Thanks for the history lesson though – Grandad!
so did YOUR account add any factual info to the discussion?
Nope.
what’s the point of trolling without adding anything useful?
you haven’t proved you know anymore than what i stated.
it’s TOO EASY being an asshat troll without adding anything
“what’s the point of trolling without adding anything useful?”
Well, I’m a pathetic loser with nothing to actually say. It makes me feel like a real big man. Reason enough.
You seem bitter, insecure and possibly unsatisfied w/ life itself. The dude was simply sharing some insight into the historical relationship between the countries. IAnd in a thoughtful manner i might add. If that does not peak your interest then scroll on. No need to spread your immature nastiness here. No one wants to hear your insecure sh*t
Did you see what I did there, I used your handle just like someone else used mine. You replied to that user, are that fucking stupid?
Maybe my point was lost on you? My point was that your info was unneeded, I didn’t disagree with your facts but implied they could have been omitted. Why would me adding facts not have been contradictory? Seriously though grandad thanks for the history lessons, that is exactly why I come to MDN. Please keep them coming!
people down vote it for a FACTUAL account?
maybe the down voter can tell me where I’m wrong.
sentiment stupidity (racism? ) rules.
please note I didn’t even say the communist rulers of China are wonderful, or mention Tibet or anything.
sigh. problem today is idiocy, emotion, everywhere trumps facts.
Seriously, even if you don’t like China , you can’t deal with it (or contain it or whatever) if you don’t even UNDERSTAND the REALITY of it.
People don’t learn. Even after The invasion Iraq for example, the invasion got all f-ked up because people went in with emotion instead of actually understanding the facts of Iraq like WMD or divides of Shite and Sunni etc.
I believe the reaction by “Bad Grandpa” is because of the unnecessary mention of the East India Company and such. If you’re going to go into that why stop there? Why not get into the Boxer Rebellion and all similar details?
Why not, because even elements like the East India Company (which was NOT a “drug cartel” as there were many aspect of EIC that had nothing to do with anything drug related) are not very relevant to the current disputes or issues.
If you look at the history of Taiwan it has had many historical names Formosa and the Republic of China just to name two. The officially recognized name today is Taiwan. “China” is nowhere in that name. It does not mater whether the People’s Republic of China likes it or not. Yet, one thing of note is that Taiwan does not have an embassy or ambassador in the U.S. Taiwan has a “Mission” in the U.S. and the representative leading that “Mission” in the U.S. is Representative Stanley KAO, not Ambassador KAO.
The officially recognized name of Hong Kong is “Hong Kong Special Administrative Region” or Heung Kong Takpit Hangching Ku. It is officially a special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China. Hong Kong has no official, independent representation to the U.S., but they do have a “Commissioner” working out of an office in NYC.
Opium war etc references is vitally important to understand why China is so sensitive to the Hong Kong issue. Don’t understand it and you won’t get it why they are so insistent. china believes many outside corps are behaving like all those who tried to colonize them.
I write it because too many including political leaders don’t understand the under currents of things
i was already careful about Taiwan saying it was ‘vaguely historical” Formosa is a Portuguese colonial name.
… about those assholes Dave. With the pathetic excuse for an educational system we have in the U.S. I’m sure there are many here who couldn’t even find Taiwan or China on a world map, let alone know any of the history.
At least your and DaveWrite’s disagreement/discussion is somewhat civil–both bring very valid points–the way it should be. “BadGranpa” OTOH immediately launches into aspersions, hyperbole and name-calling. No facts, nothing edifying added to discussion, just generic internet trollery BS. Disagreement is fantastic–that’s where we hopefully learn and appreciate our differences and maybe come to a new understanding.
looking back at it maybe the Opium War Hong Kong stuff is bothering people like Bad Grandpa (especial fact hating racists and xenophobes.. ) . It’s just facts, Go Google it.
Wikipedia:
Opium War:
“The First Opium War, fought over opium trade,[4] financial reparations,[5] and diplomatic status,[6] began in 1839 and was concluded by the Treaty of Nanking (Nanjing) in 1842. The treaty ceded the Hong Kong island to the United Kingdom”
“In the late 18th century, the British East India Company started smuggling opium from India into China”
“Even some Americans entered the trade by bringing opium from Turkey into China. Some of the American opium traders included the great-grandfather of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt ”
“The opium trade resulted in 4–12 million Chinese addicts and devastated especially the large coastal Chinese cities.[8] In 1839, after having a letter to the Queen of England, pleading for a halt to the import of opium ignored, the emperor issued an edict ordering the seizure of all the opium in Canton”
Which resulted in the Opium War.
–
Return of Hong Kong to China.
Wikipedia:
Handover of Hong Kong
“The transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong,[1][2][3] commonly known as the handover of Hong Kong (or simply “the Handover”, also “the Return” in mainland China) was the transformation of control over the United Kingdom’s then colony of Hong Kong, pursuant to which it ceased to be a British Dependent Territory and became instead a special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China on 1 July 1997. The returned territory comprised Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, ”
–
As for idiot Bad Grandpa “like we didn’t know this stuff already?”
nope, I’ve read numerous commenters here in MDN And elsewhere saying China shouldn’t even consider Hong Kong as part of China — which makes no sense.
I’m a fan of MDN, but even MDN”s take “You can’t control the world, China.” shows something of this as the Chinese think tank is just saying ‘most foreign companies don’t even realize HK is part of China’ (the Taiwan issue is more debatable though I agree)
Free Tibet!
I think you can really gauge how secure a government feels in itself by how it gets tied up by minutiae such as this. See also: street names in KL.
Hahaha. Yes. Replacing older traditional street names with names of people no one knows but are of the politically correct and acceptable race.
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