Founder’s daughter hits out at Hong Kong protesters over vandalism of Maxim’s outlets, blaming education system for failure to instil sense of Chinese identity in locals
- Protesters escalated their attacks and vented their anger on businesses under Maxim’s after Annie Wu’s earlier comments
- She also said there was a lack of education about Chinese history among locals from the kindergarten level
The daughter of the founder of catering giant Maxim’s Group has hit out at Hong Kong protesters who vandalised the company’s eateries because of her political stance, blaming the city’s education system for a failure to nurture a sense of national identity in local youths.
Annie Wu Suk-ching made the remarks in an interview with the China News Service agency after protesters escalated their attacks and vented their anger on businesses under Maxim’s because of earlier comments she made against the anti-government demonstrations, which were triggered by the now-withdrawn extradition bill.
Wu, founder of the first mainland China-Hong Kong joint venture, Beijing Air Catering, admitted the local restaurant chain had been affected after she spoke at the UN’s top human rights body last month about the unrest engulfing the city.
“To counter others, they desperately launch personal attacks, to strike at anything that is related to us. I absolutely have no links with Maxim’s personally because I don’t work at Maxim’s,” Wu said in the interview released on Wednesday night.
“[Maxim’s employees] work every day. Now it makes them mentally stressed during work. So I don’t think it’s an economic problem. It’s not a problem against the [extradition] bill. It’s a political problem. It’s political suppression.”