Mars Wrigley apologises to China over Snickers ad calling Taiwan a country
"Mars Wrigley respects China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and conducts business operations in strict compliance with local Chinese laws and regulations," the statement said.
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FollowMars Wrigley, the company that makes Snickers candy bars, issued an apology for a Snickers product launch that Chinese social media users said implied Taiwan was a nation. On the Chinese microblogging platform Weibo on Friday, videos and images depicting a Snickers website touting a limited edition Snickers bar and claiming the product was only available in the "countries" of South Korea, Malaysia, and Taiwan sparked a firestorm of ire.
Later, Mars Wrigley apologised on its Snickers China Weibo account and stated that the pertinent information had been changed. Mars Wrigley said, "Mars Wrigley respects China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity and conducts its business operations in strict compliance with local Chinese laws and regulations."
The criticism on social media, however, persisted since many users were incensed that the US company's statement did not explicitly specify that Taiwan was a part of China, which is a key element of Chinese foreign policy.
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The problem of Taiwan is a legacy of the bloody Chinese Civil War, which concluded in 1949 and saw the vanquished Nationalists evacuate to the island while the Chinese Communist Party seized power on the mainland. Beijing has never renounced using force to annex Taiwan and views the island as a part of its sovereignty. Taiwan denies China's claims to sovereignty and asserts that only the island's residents have the power to choose its future. Snickers is the latest international company to have to apologise after being criticised by Chinese social media users for not adopting Beijing's preferred terms for the island: Taiwan province or Taiwan (China).
When US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi disregarded Beijing's warnings and went to Taiwan this week, which China claims as part of its territory and has sworn to annex, Beijing responded angrily.
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