The protests in Hong Kong are becoming more intense, to the extent that brands doing business in China are being pressured to express clearly which side they are on.
Whether these companies are local drink shops or global brands, they are taken to task and required to clarify whether they support the “one county, two systems” model designed with Taiwan and Hong Kong in mind, or the “one China” principle.
If the pressure on companies to declare their stance on these issues continues, the Chinese government could be hoisted with its own petard.
On the Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo, Huawei Technologies has become the latest target of criticism for “political mistakes.”
In the past few weeks, many Chinese netizens discovered that the so-called “patriotic mobile phone maker” was guilty of a major political blunder regarding the time zone displayed on its phones.
On phones set up to use the simplified Chinese setting, the location displayed for Taipei’s time zone shows “Taipei, China,” while on phones set to display traditional characters, the location given is “Taipei, Taiwan.”
The moment this was reported, countless netizens tested the settings themselves, and when they verified that the reports were true, it caused a huge stir among Internet users.
It was also revealed that on Huawei’s Facebook page, there was a post celebrating Taiwan’s Double Ten National Day, which takes place on Oct. 10, along with a photograph of the Republic of China flag.
That posed a dilemma for Chinese government officials — dealing with the post would have been wrong, and not dealing with it would also have been wrong.
In the end, Huawei decided to censor and delete posts on its Sina Weibo page, but it was too late — the public had already made up their minds. Only time will tell if the storm will keep brewing.
Huawei’s mobile phone business is already in a difficult situation due to the US government’s trade sanctions, and the company might have to cut jobs in its overseas branches. The Taiwan time zone incident only made Huawei’s situation worse.
The fact that Chinese patriotism is having an affect on Huawei is a minor issue. The real question is what will happen if this issue continues to spread and reaches the ranks of Chinese government officials.
For example, for Chinese online shopping site Taobao domestic shipping does not include Taiwan: Will Taobao have to apologize for not including Taiwan as a part of China?
China’s official family planning does not include Taiwan, which raises the question of whether the Chinese National Health and Family Planning Commission will have to apologize for this. Not to mention the numerous Chinese statistics and data out there that do not include Taiwan.
Nationalism is a double-edged sword that might be a useful weapon when you want to attack someone, but the force increases with each attack and in the end it will spin out of control.
Ethan How is a Taiwan-based Malaysian working in the metal industry.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
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