There have been a lot of public apologies going out to China lately, Donatella Versace sent her sorry over Instagram this weekend, while on Monday, Coach expressed their regret on Twitter, and Givenchy posted on Weibo. What they did they do to upset Chinese customers: imply that Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan were independent on T-shirts and websites. This comes at a time when the Asian superpower is embroiled in a hot conflict with the former British colony of Hong Kong over a controversial extradition bill and disagreements over how involved the mainland government should be in its politics. Currently, protesters have shut down the Special Administrative District’s Chek Lap Kok Airport.
Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are territories that have changed ownership over the last century, and have had different levels of conflict with the People’s Republic of China, significantly independent economic relationships with the rest of the world, as well as customs checks between borders. While the Beijing government has not had any major issues with Macau since it was returned from Portuguese control in 1999, Taiwan has always considered itself a separate country—officially known as the Republic of China. While the Chinese government accepts special relationships with all three, it is unambiguous about the fact that they are all part of “one-China” —and the netizens and influencers from the mainland agree.
The apologies from the three luxury labels came after outcry on China’s social media platform Weibo and brand ambassadors like actress Yang Mi and supermodel Liu Wen, ended their respective contracts with Versace and Coach.
While some Chinese people on social media have accepted the apologies, others continue to criticise the moves, comparing them to the Dolce & Gabbana scandal last November when the Italian fashion house tried to stage The Grand Show for Chinese customers in Shanghai, but ended up having to cancel the catwalk after people took offence to promotional videos showing a Chinese woman struggling to eat Italian food with chopsticks and racist tweets coming from Stefano Gabbana’s Instagram account (which the D&G founder says was hacked). For months after the scandal, the world boycotted the brand, with protests outside stores in China and a noticeable absence of celebrities dressed in the label on award season red carpets. As late as March 2019, Bloomberg reported that Chinese customers were still punishing the brand and seeing as this market makes up a third of global luxury consumption, it could be fatal for the fashion house.
It’s not clear at the moment how serious these offenses will be taken, but Versace, Givenchy, and Coach are willing to question China’s sovereignty. Still, among the comments condemning the brands for promoting the independence of the three regions, there are supporters of self-determination for Hong Kong and Taiwan, which have traditionally been sympathetic causes in the West.