• Tweeter

  • republish

Like dozens of other multinationals, the American company Nike is in the sights of a powerful Chinese think-tank for not having "correctly" reference in Hong Kong or Taiwan. Johannes EISELE / AFP

According to Reuters, a Chinese think-tank would have lectured dozens of large foreign companies for not having made "correct" reference to Hong Kong and Taiwan in their presentation or on their website.

With our correspondent in Beijing, Stéphane Lagarde

The tension is rising between Beijing and Taipei. But this time, it is a much more pregnant pressure than the threats of invasions that sometimes come back in the speeches of Chinese leaders, as Xi Jinping who declared a few days ago not to have given up the use of force against Taiwan.

According to our Reuters colleagues, the powerful social science academy in Beijing reportedly listed foreign companies that do not comply with the Communist regime's " one-China principle ." Among the worst students, 66 of the world's 500 largest groups would have used "incorrect" referents in their Taiwan designation, 53 would have made the same mistake for Hong Kong.

Since the election of independence activist Tsai Ing-wen to the Taiwanese presidency in 2016, Beijing has significantly increased pressure on the island. The communist regime monitors and corrects everything that might go in the direction of what it considers to be separatism.

Several multinationals in the viewfinder of Beijing

Gap, the American ready-to-wear brand was forced to apologize after selling t-shirts with the map of China without Taiwan. Publications, drop-down menus, everything is sifted by the supervisors of the net. The Air France site, like that of Air Canada, Lufthansa, and British Airways, situates Taiwan as part of mainland China.

In the report of the academy of social sciences quoted by Reuters, appear the names of large companies such as Amazon, Apple, Nike, Siemens, Subaru and others, who too would have been invited to comply with Chinese injunctions.