“Apple Inc. found itself on the receiving end of a small, short-lived anti-U.S. protest this week in China, the tech firm’s biggest overseas market and a country where foreign firms have suffered damaging boycotts following international spats,” Reuters reports.
“A handful of unofficial Apple stores were picketed and social media users encouraged each other to destroy their Apple goods, in a rare instance of the tech firm being targeted as a symbol of perceived injustice following an international ruling against Chinese territorial claims,” Reuters reports. “Though the protest was small, observers have expressed concern about the impact on Apple in the long term, citing the roughly year-long slump in sales of Japanese cars after a diplomatic dispute that prompted large protests and boycotts.”
“Apple was targeted in the latest protest by virtue of its country of origin, which in turn was regarded as the root of a perceived affront. Earlier this month, The Hague said it found no legal basis for China’s claim to most of the South China Sea, prompting local media to call the Court a ‘puppet’ of external forces, and accuse the United States of turning the Philippines – which filed the case – against China,” Reuters reports. “About a week later, on Tuesday, over 100 protesters picketed four unofficial Apple dealers in Suining in the eastern province of Jiangsu for about three hours, urging customers not to buy the genuine Apple goods on sale. ‘They chanted, ‘boycott American products and kick iPhones out of China,” store owner Zhu Yawei told Reuters. ‘But nothing really happened: no fights, no smashing.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: “We’re so angry that Apple has done more to raise the standard of living, wages, and workers rights in China than pretty much anybody! Oh, by the way, we own the moon, too!”
SEE ALSO:
Chinese nationalists smashing Apple iPhones over UN’s South China Sea decision – July 20, 2016
Comrades! Day off today, mandatory protest down at the Apple store. Your actions will be watched and recorded!
Oh brother, not brave enough to protest your own truly and blatant oppressive & controlling government? What jobs Jobs giveth can be taken away. Just keep making it uncomfortable for business and you’ll be left standing jobless with egg on your faces and left wondering “what the heck just happened?”
To be fair, peterblood71, the United States has had plenty of its own overblown political responses. About 15 years ago a number of U.S. citizens were cursing France and changing product names…”freedom” fries anyone? We are not saints in that regard…not even close.
The Chinese people are entitled to their sense of patriotism as long as it does not spill over into threats or violence to other countries.
This event serves as yet another warning signal for the U.S. to begin repatriating high-value, high tech manufacturing and assembly. Globalization is fine and necessary. Complete dependence is foolishness.
I certainly think it’s prudent to build infrastructure here for sure. Especially since the world remains an unstable place being that humans still rule it.
I would love to be able to live another 100 years (forever actually) and watch the American relationship with China evolve, among other things.
As we all know, Apple is currently investigating massive investments in India . . . another move China is very unhappy with. The rest of the Far East–from Thailand to Viet Nam to India to Malaysia–is on the cusp of picking up where China seems unwilling to go. The coming militant nationalism in the South China Sea and inland marketplaces will, eventually, bite Chinese workers in the ass. And it couldn’t happen to a nicer group of folks.
A handful of unofficial Apple stores
That’s interesting. These are the parasite stores that sell grey market and faked Apple gear. Protest them MORE please!
Meanwhile, China’s IMPERIALIST ambitions in the South China Sea could not be more obvious. Playing propaganda and baloney protest games makes no difference. China wants Asia, including the island nations, as its EMPIRE. All this is coming out of a FAILed government, as evidenced by the fact that it’s totalitarian.
I’m reminded of the Patrick Henry quote: Give me liberty or give me death! So how bad do you want your liberty and freedom, citizens of China? Get moving and kill off the totalitarian scum who are abusing your country! End it and join humanity as part of the humane! Be creative again!
“Get moving and kill off the totalitarian scum who are abusing your country! ”
sage advice for Americans too.
Darn, I triggered a NSA alert! I just noticed. I have to be careful with that ‘kill’ word. But yes bot! That sort of ‘throw the bums out’ spirit is deeply required in the USA. Part of the problem is deciding who are the bums. Mounds of propaganda, misdirection and disinformation act as sheep’s clothing around here. I don’t care which political party is foisting.
Behold the power of the umlaut when posting via Disqus, who is currently censoring anti-Dem comments.
1984,
Why those
For instance, on Disqus you cannot comment libtard, but you can defeat the algorithm with “libtärd.”…or any of the other myriad of censorship techniques employed by Disqus. Gravatar/Wordpress used at MDN is not so strict.
HAHAHA! That’s so ridiculous. I had no idea Disqus would pull that crap. I suppose they’re stuck playing political correctness games, either internally or at the insistence of the Mrs. Mary Whitehouses of the world.
yeah, it’s a mess.
The bums are always the last group of legislators who were elected, Caucuses, lobbyists, and committee chairmen who rule with an iron hand decide which pork barrel projects will be permitted. And which national proorities will be stifled. It hardly matters who you voted for; they are chewed up in the cogs of the system.
MDN. Apple has done very little more than any other successful company in china. They just spin a good PR story.
You would think these protesters would be dyed in the wool communists, aging pensioners and those who took part in the cultural revolution. But they’re not. They’re young and “supposedly” college educated people who all too easily swallowed the party propaganda line.
It’s a clear example and warning of how effective censorship can be on a population. Western media outlets who intentionally censor political content need to named and shammed for stooping so low. Otherwise, we’re no better than the Chinese A-holes perpetrating such nonsense on their own people.