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China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its territory, and the visit
by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei
last week - in defiance of Beijing's warnings - has sparked a
wave of Chinese nationalism and huge military drills.
Chinese social media users have targeted companies and
celebrities they see as unpatriotic or supportive of Taiwan's
independence with strong criticism - such as candy brand
Snickers, whose owner apologised last week for a product launch
that was seen as suggesting Taiwan is a country.
On Saturday, Foshan Haitian Flavoring and Food Co Ltd, China's
largest soy sauce maker by sales, issued a lengthy apology,
saying it had fired an unidentified employee who attracted
social media attention with a private post that celebrated
Pelosi's visit.
"The inappropriate content published seriously goes against
Haitian's culture, does not match with Haitian's values, and has
hurt the feelings of the Chinese people, producing a negative
societal influence," the company said on its Weibo account,
promising it would manage its employees better.
Another business, Asia-focused asset manager Matthews
International Capital Management, issued a clarification on
Monday after it was described by Beijing-backed Hong Kong
newspaper Ta Kung Pao as being founded by Pelosi's husband,
saying such allegations were "factually incorrect".
It said on its website that it was founded by Paul Matthews, not
Paul Pelosi, and also did not have any current ownership or
business ties with William Hambrecht, who is a friend and
political supporter of Pelosi, contrary to media reports.
"We take the recent misreporting and false statements about our
firm very seriously and are working with media outlets to take
prompt corrective action," Matthews, whose main owners include
Paul Matthews, Mark Headley, Mizuho Financial Group Inc and
Royal Bank of Canada, said on Monday.
In a separate case, Taiwanese chip maker United Microelectronics
Corp (UMC), distanced itself from its founder Robert Tsao, who
last week pledged to donate NT$3 billion (US$100 million) to
help Taiwan bolster its defences, after his comments were
pilloried by Chinese social media users.
In a statement, UMC said: "Mr Tsao retired from UMC more than 10
years ago. He has nothing to do with UMC."
Chinese state media have issued warnings, saying that companies
should consider their access to the world's second largest
economy with respect to the Taiwan situation and Pelosi, who
has, along with her immediate family, been sanctioned by China
after her visit.
"It can be expected that if any ties of interest with China can
be found in the business activities of Pelosi and her immediate
family members, they will definitely be cut off," state-backed
Global Times newspaper said in an editorial over the weekend.
China's military announced fresh military drills on Monday in
the seas and airspace around Taiwan - a day after the scheduled
end of its largest ever exercises, confirming the fears of some
security analysts and diplomats that Beijing would continue to
maintain pressure on Taiwan's defences.
(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista, Samuel Shen, Sarah Wu; Editing
by Brenda Goh and Mark Potter)
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