H&M upsets Vietnam after kowtowing to Beijing over ‘problematic map’

Twitter users in Vietnam lash out after retailer reportedly agrees to edit map on its website to clarify Beijing’s territorial claims in South China Sea
Swedish firm recently came under fire in China for its views on buying cotton from Xinjiang

South China Sea

Kristin Huang

Published: 4:57pm, 3 Apr 2021

Why you can trust SCMP

Swedish fashion retailer H&M is facing a new protest, this time from social media users in Vietnam who accuse it of kowtowing to China over a map of disputed territories in the South China Sea.

The controversy began on Friday when the Shanghai branch of the Cyberspace Administration of China said it had been alerted by members of the public to a “problematic map of China” on H&M’s website.

It did not specify what was wrong with the illustration, but on Weibo – China’s Twitter-like platform – a graphic from an earlier People’s Daily report showing the so-called nine-dash line – the mark Beijing uses to claim about 90 per cent of the disputed waters of the South China Sea – was widely shared.

The Shanghai municipal bureau of planning and natural resources ordered the “error” to be remedied immediately and H&M complied, according to the cyberspace watchdog.

H&M declined to comment on the issue.

01:21

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However, the retailer’s apparent concession did not go down well in Vietnam, which holds rival claims to some of the territories contained within the nine-dash line.

“Paracel and Spratly Islands are belong to VietNam due to international law. H&M brand now is fighting against the law n all the Asian. We fight because we must fight,” Vietnam-based Huong L. Tran said on Twitter on Saturday.

“Stupid HM, how dare you! HOANG SA TRUONG SA BELONG TO VIET NAM!!! Get out of our country HM!!” wrote another, using the local names for the Paracel and Spratly island chains in the South China Sea that are claimed by both Beijing and Hanoi.

Despite the online outrage, H&M has a relatively small presence in Vietnam, operating just 11 bricks-and-mortar stores in the country, compared with 520 in China.

02:38

Global brands face backlash in China for rejecting Xinjiang cotton

H&M came under fire in China late last month for a statement it made in 2020 saying it did not source cotton from Xinjiang – the far western Chinese region that has been at the centre of a row between China and the United States, European Union, Britain and Canada over the treatment of Uygur people there.

Other global brands, including Nike and Burberry, also became embroiled in the dispute.

Foreign governments and other groups have accused Beijing of using forced labour in Xinjiang, as well as operating internment camps to hold than 1 million people from predominantly Muslim ethnic minority groups. Chinese officials have repeatedly denied the claims and said the camps were established to provide job training and combat extremism.

H&M said last week it wanted to regain the trust of its customers in China.

“China is a very important market to us and our long-term commitment to the country remains strong. We are working together with our colleagues in China to do everything we can to manage the current challenges and find a way forward,” it said.

Additional reporting by Simone McCarthy