Marriott alters website to appease China
Hotelier apologizes after Beijing punishes it for listing disputed areas as separate nations
WASHINGTON — Marriott International is apologizing to the Chinese government — and changing its practices — after coming under fire for listing Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet and Macau as stand-alone countries on an email questionnaire it sent to members of its rewards program.
The apology comes after the Chinese government, which maintains that those locations are part of China, shut down Marriott’s Chinese website and app as punishment.
Marriott, the world’s largest hotelier which has been aggressively expanding in China in recent years, says it took down the survey “immediately” and is doing a review of all of its materials, including its websites, according to a company spokeswoman. The Bethesda, Md.-based company is also taking disciplinary action against an employee who used a corporate Twitter account to “like” a post supporting Tibetan independence from China.
“Marriott International respects and supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China,” chief executive Arne Sorenson wrote in a statement on the company’s website.
“We don’t support anyone who subverts the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China and we do not intend in any way to encourage or incite any such people or groups,” he added. “We recognize the severity of the situation and sincerely apologize.”
Marriott is among a growing number of companies that has been publicly targeted by the Chinese government for listing Taiwan and Hong Kong as separate countries. Delta Air Lines and Zara in recent weeks have also amended their websites — and issued public apologies — under pressure from China.
“It was an inadvertent error with no business or political intention, and we apologize for the mistake,” a spokeswoman for Delta said in an email. “As one of our most important markets, we are fully committed to China and our Chinese customers.”
A number of major companies, including Apple and Audi, have acquiesced to China’s censorship laws and other demands in recent years, experts said. Apple last year removed messaging and VPN apps, which would allow users to bypass governmentimposed firewalls, from its Chinese app store. Audi, meanwhile, apologized for using in a presentation a map of China that did not include Taiwan and parts of Tibet.
Hong Kong and Macau are officially part of China, although they have their own governments and political systems. (Traveling between Hong Kong, Macau and China requires a passport.) Tibet is ruled by China, although some Tibetans argue that it is an independent country that is illegally occupied.
Taiwan, meanwhile, also has its own democracy and maintains that it is an independent nation. China, however, claims it as a province.