Bakery disappears from Chinese delivery apps after Taiwanese leader receives gift in store

Netizens react furiously to gift given in Los Angeles branch of 85˚C

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This widely-shared photo apparently shows Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen receiving a gift from the 85˚C shop in Los Angeles. (Picture: Facebook)

Published: 9:02pm, 17 Aug 2018Updated: 8:36am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Search for a major Taiwanese bakery chain on China’s biggest food delivery apps and you won’t find it anymore. 85˚C has over 600 stores in China, but it’s apparently disappeared from Ele.me and Meituan-Dianping.

It happened after photos emerged of staff at an 85˚C shop in Los Angeles apparently giving a gift bag to Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen during her two-day stopover in the United States. The gift angered Chinese netizens: The topic page “#85°C Taiwan Independence” has more than 1.7 million views on microblog Weibo, with plenty of comments condemning the bakery chain.

We haven’t received a response from Ele.me, and Meituan-Dianping declined to comment.

(Abacus is a unit of the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba -- which also owns Ele.me.)

85°C denied in a statement that the gift bag represents any stance from the company, saying it was just one employee’s impromptu gift.

Bakery disappears from Chinese delivery apps after Taiwanese leader receives gift in store

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Netizens react furiously to gift given in Los Angeles branch of 85˚C

Netizens react furiously to gift given in Los Angeles branch of 85˚C