Apple has required its Taiwan-based contractors to label their products destined for China with the statement “made in Taiwan, China” Where “made in Taipei, China”, according to Japanese media Nikkei Asia. The request, sent Friday, August 5, comes in a context of strong tensions between China and its island neighbor, whose independence it has never recognized.
The American company is thus seeking to comply with a Chinese law which prohibits products labeled as being manufactured in the Republic of China – the official name of Taiwan – from entering Chinese territory. Beijing indeed refuses Taiwan the use of this name since it considers the autonomous island as an integral part of its territory.
The law in question dates from 2015, but so far has not really been implemented, recalls the Bloomberg agency. According to the latter, China decided to ensure its strict application following the visit to Taiwan on August 2 by the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. Companies that do not comply with the text and continue to use on products destined for China the mentions “made in Taiwan” Where “Republic of China” – which Taipei is asking for on all products leaving its territory – risk fines, as well as the immobilization, or even the dismissal, of the goods concerned, according to Nikkei Asia.
Maintain production lines
This decision by Apple to comply with Beijing’s wishes comes as a shipment of elements from Taiwan and intended to join an iPhone assembly site in China has already been subject to checks as to its labeling, Thursday. Complying with Beijing’s directives would allow Apple to avoid any risk of a slowdown in its production chain, as the Apple brand prepares to launch the final phase of production of the iPhone 14. whose presentation is expected in September, remind him Guardian.
“Unfortunately, we believe that Apple’s ‘red line’, the moment when the company will say ‘stop, that’s enough, we can no longer collaborate with the Chinese regime and respond favorably to its demands for censorship’, is still very far “, sorry to The Register website Benjamin Ismail, director of the Apple Censorship project, associated with the organization GreatFire, which denounces Chinese censorship online.
“Is it only a matter of time before Apple starts removing applications containing the characters ‘台湾/台灣’ (Taiwan) without specifying ‘province of China’ from its AppStore? », asks the project’s Twitter account. An account which also recalls that the Cupertino company has already taken other questionable measures vis-à-vis China, such as remove the flag of Taiwan from your list of emojis in certain areas of the globe, notably in Hong Kong.
Is it a question of time before @Apple starts removing apps which name contains the characters “台湾/台灣” (Taiwan) wit… https://t.co/bdQRHxydee