Fast-fashion giant Zara said store closures in Hong Kong on Monday were not related to ongoing anti-Beijing protests in the territory, after speculation on Chinese social media that the retailer’s employees were supporting the demonstrators.
“Zara has never made any comments or undertaken any actions related to a strike in Hong Kong,” the company said in a post on its Sina Weibo account.
“Zara does not back a strike and supports ‘one country, two systems,’” the post said, referring to a general strike called by unions as part of the protests and China’s policy for governing Hong Kong.
The denial comes as multinational businesses become increasingly ensnared in the volatile conflict that has morphed from a protest against an extradition law into a broader challenge to Beijing’s authority in the territory.
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (國泰航空), Hong Kong’s biggest carrier, faced heavy pushback from China after its staff joined the demonstrations, while HSBC Holdings PLC to PricewaterhouseCoopers have been the subject of online speculation over their positions on the protests, which have rocked the former British colony for almost three months.
A company representative who yesterday answered Zara’s Hong Kong hotline confirmed that all of its stores except one on Hong Kong island were shut on Monday, but declined to give a reason for the closures.
Most of Zara’s stores in Hong Kong’s Kowloon District were open on Monday, she said.
Zara is owned by Spanish fashion conglomerate Inditex SA. A spokesperson for Inditex China did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Separately, Cathay Pacific is under investigation by Chinese regulators after emergency oxygen bottles on three flights were found depleted or completely empty, compounding pressure on the Hong Kong airline from mainland authorities.
Cabin crew from the flights have been grounded so they can help with the probe, Cathay Pacific told staff in a memo on Monday.
As well as the Civil Aviation Administration of China, Hong Kong authorities and local police are also investigating, the note said.
Inspections discovered 13 oxygen canisters — designed to be used by crew in an emergency depressurization of the cabin — that were partially or fully discharged, Cathay said last week.
The inquiry is another headache for new chief executive officer Augustus Tang (鄧健榮), weeks after Chinese regulators threatened to bar Cathay Pacific from the mainland because some staff supported the Hong Kong protests.
Cathay Pacific’s note to employees did not apportion blame for the depleted bottles, but said the probe is also drawing in ground staff, caterers, cleaners and engineers. It is almost unheard of for a single airline to find so many canisters empty in such a short space of time.
“This is quite unusual,” said Shukor Yusof, founder of aviation consulting firm Endau Analytics. “It’s hurting Cathay’s brand.”
Cathay Pacific has introduced stricter security checks, according to the memo.
“Cabin crew are required to carry out checks in the cabin, lavatories and crew rest compartment at least every 60 minutes between services, ensuring no suspicious activity,” it said. “Crew should be extra vigilant to emergency equipment stowage areas.”
The bottles found empty were immediately recharged and safety was not compromised, Cathay Pacific said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained