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CK Hutchison Holdings, once run by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, is among the firms to be named and shamed in the report. Photo: Sam Tsang
ChinaPolitics

Chinese report ‘names and shames’ Fortune 500 firms for mislabelling its territories

  • Researchers produce study to highlight ‘failings’ of firms like CK Hutchison Holdings, AIA Group and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
  • Report finds 127 examples of ‘mistaken’ or ‘inappropriate’ labelling on companies’ websites
Cheung Kong
Jun Mai
Jun Maiin Beijing
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A group of Chinese scholars will publish a report in November identifying companies on the Fortune Global 500 list that they say do not properly label Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau as territories of the People’s Republic of China.
Among the firms to be named and shamed is CK Hutchison Holdings – once run by the now retired Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing – which according to Zhi Zhenfeng, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and lead author of the study, is guilty of “inappropriately labelling” the territories.

Some details of the report have already been published by China’s state media.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co is one of the firms accused of incorrect labelling in the report. Photo: Bloomberg

Despite the allegation, CK Hutchison said on Thursday that its websites always listed Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan as regions or markets, and never as countries.

But Zhi said that even listing cities and provinces as regions was problematic.

“On those lists, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan look like independent entities and there is no clear explanation that they are part of China,” he said.

He said he was unable to provide a copy of the report before its official release.

Coach was attacked for a T-shirt design that listed Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan separately from China. Photo: Nora Tam

In recent years Beijing has accused numerous multinational brands of failing to comply with its demands on how Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan should be labelled.

Last month, American leather goods manufacturer Coach issued a statement saying it “respects and supports China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” after it faced a backlash for a T-shirt design that listed Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan separately from China.
A similar witch hunt broke out in May 2018, when the Civil Aviation Administration of China, backed by nationalistic media outlets, put pressure on foreign airlines to identify the three places as being part of the same country. Washington described Beijing’s campaign as “Orwellian nonsense”.

Zhi said his report looked at how Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan were listed on the websites of all of the companies on last year’s Fortune 500 list and found 127 examples of “mistaken” or “inappropriate” labelling.

Hong Kong is now listed as “Hong Kong (China)” on Siemens’ website. Photo: AFP

Among the other so-called offenders were Hong Kong-based AIA Group and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s biggest contract chip maker.

Zhi, whose team produced a similar report on the companies that made up the 2017 Fortune Global 500 list, described the study as a success.

He said it would force more companies to change the way they referred to Chinese territories, as Siemens had done. Hong Kong is now listed as “Hong Kong (China)” on the German conglomerate’s website.

“We will conduct more research of this kind and look into international aviation companies in our future reports,” Zhi said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Fortune 500 firms in cross hairs over labelling territories firms wrong on labelling territories shamed
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