Taiwan bakery chain disappears from major Chinese food apps amid Tsai visit row
SHANGHAI/ TAIPEI: Chinese food delivery platforms MeituanDianping and Ele.me have taken down listings for Taiwan’s 85 Degrees Celsius Bakery Cafe, checks on their apps showed, amid boycott calls from social media users who said the chain supported Taiwan independence.
The move by the Chinese companies comes after 85 Degrees, which has 628 stores in mainland China, was hit by calls for a boycott on Chinese social media after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen was photographed on Sunday visiting one of its Los Angeles stores during her visit to the United States.
Taiwan is China’s most sensitive territorial issue and Beijing, which considers it a wayward province, has in recent months become increasingly critical of how companies refer to the selfruled, democratic island.
Checks on Tencent- backed Meituan-Dianping and Alibabaowned Ele.me’s apps on Thursday showed that the option for users to order food deliveries from 85 Degrees stores was no longer available.
The Dianping app, which lists reviews and locations for restaurants and shops, displayed the message ‘unable to find appropriate merchant’ when one tried to search for 85 Degrees’ stores.
Meituan-Dianping declined to comment while Ele.me and 85 Degrees did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
It was not clear when 85 Degrees’ listing was taken down from the apps but Chinese state media reported it on Thursday.
On Wednesday, 85 Degrees issued a statement on its mainland website in response to criticism about Tsai’s visit, saying that it firmly supported the ‘one China policy’ and encouraged the peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Strait.
Huang Chung-yen, a spokesman for Taiwan’s Presidential Office, said 85 Degrees was subject to ‘unwarranted pressure’ and forced to release a ‘humiliating’ statement, adding that Taiwan condemned such actions against freedom of speech.
Shares in Gourmet Master Company Ltd, 85 Degrees’ parent company, dropped 7.5 per cent to their lowest in more than a year, compared with a 0.3 per cent fall in the broader market .
Long Mingbiao, a deputy minister at China’s policy-making Taiwan Affairs Office, told reporters in Beijing that China welcomed Taiwan companies to come to the mainland to invest and develop.
“At the same time, we oppose and will not allow any Taiwan company to earn money in the mainland and then go and support Taiwan independence forces or activities,” he said. — Reuters