JPMorgan may be on slippery slope over Taiwan name game
- JPMorgan Chase joins other brands forced by Beijing to censor, or self-censor, any political views concerning Taiwan’s de facto independence as a condition for doing business with China
JPMorgan Chase became the latest major corporation to kowtow to Beijing’s “namefare” campaign over Taiwan, instructing some of its employees to refer to “Taiwan, China” instead of referring to self-governed Taiwan as a separate country.
In a recent email from Stuart Marston, a supervisory analyst global manager for the mega bank, certain employees were instructed to refrain from referring to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan as separate countries, according to Bloomberg News.
JPMorgan Chase is not the only major corporation to be forced by Beijing to censor, or self-censor, any political views concerning Taiwan’s de facto independence as a condition for doing business with China. In recent years, global brands such as Calvin Klein, Coach, Delta, The Gap, Givenchy, Marriott, Swarovski, Versace and Zara have been forced to apologise for referring to Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan as separate countries on their websites or T-shirts they sell and have changed these designations.
For JPMorgan, the trade was purely profit-driven – swapping any country references to Taiwan for a piece of China’s US$20 trillion in investible financial assets, which have largely remained off-limits to foreign competition.
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The firm is the only American financial institution so far to have been approved to take a majority stake in an onshore Chinese securities joint venture, China International Fund Management, and JPMorgan is also considering the establishment of a private bank in China.
Yet JPMorgan must also consider its operations in Taiwan, where the bank has been active since 1970, becoming the first international asset management firm and managing Taiwan’s first 11 foreign investment vehicles. While its website now refers to its operations on the island as “Taiwan, China”, potential employees are still recruited to Taiwan under “Jobs in the Country Taiwan”.
No one can predict how long this country reference will last, but it seems evident that international corporations who choose to do business with China will increasingly have to take direction from Beijing over how Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are displayed on their websites and merchandise.
But by demanding a pledge of allegiance from international companies to their “one China” principle, Beijing is not only forcing multinational companies to choose sides but their customers as well, as consumer products become increasingly politicised.
In what Reuters called the “bubble tea brawl”, popular tea brands from Taiwan were recently blacklisted by internet users on the mainland. The brawl began after Yifang Fruit Tea closed one of its Hong Kong shops for a day, putting a sign up that read: “Stand together with Hongkongers”.
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French bank BNP Paribas now faces potential boycotts from China’s internet users following comments by one of its Hong Kong-based employees showing support for the protesters.
If internet users in China continue to build blacklists of foreign companies who do not stand with them on certain sovereignty issues such as Hong Kong or Taiwan – more companies could be forced to state their political views and possibly see their sales limited to only those customers who align politically.
Is the next step down this slippery slope a “Better Business Bureau” type certification from Beijing called “CCP-Certified”? Will customers need to state their political views before being served or be turned away for their views?
Slippery slope arguments are often overly alarmist – but did Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the former White House press secretary, really expect to be turned away from a Virginia restaurant in 2018 over her political allegiance?
Multinational firms like JPMorgan Chase may believe they have made minor concessions to Beijing in return for the promise of profits in China, but as the country’s sovereignty issues become more pronounced, angry nationalistic internet users may choose to take their business elsewhere.
Gary Sands is a senior analyst at Wikistrat, a crowdsourced consultancy, and director at Highway West Capital Advisers, a venture capital, project finance and political risk advisory
