In Taiwan, Apple requires its subcontractors to mark “Made in China” on certain products.
Apple has asked its Taiwan-based contractors to mark their products destined for China with the statement “made in Taiwan, China” Where “made in Taipei, China”according to the Japanese media Nike Asia. The request, broadcast on Friday, August 5, comes in a context of high tensions between China and its island neighbor, whose independence it has never recognized.
The American company is trying to comply with a Chinese law that prohibits products marked as made in the Republic of China – Taiwan’s official name – from entering Chinese territory. Indeed, Beijing denies Taiwan the use of this designation as it considers the autonomous island an integral part of its territory.
The law in question dates back to 2015, but has not really been implemented so far, the Bloomberg agency recalls. According to the latter, following the visit of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan on August 2, China has decided to ensure its strict application. Companies that do not comply with the text and continue to use the mentions on products destined for China “made in Taiwan” Where “Republic of China” — which Taipei requires for all products leaving its territory — risk fines as well as immobilisation or even dismissal of the affected goods, sources said Nike Asia.
maintain production lines
Apple’s decision to comply with Beijing’s wishes comes as a shipment of items from Taiwan bound for an iPhone assembly site in China was checked for labeling back on Thursday. Compliance with Beijing’s guidelines would allow Apple to avoid the risk of slowing down its production chain as the Apple brand prepares to launch the final production phase of the iPhone 14. whose presentation is expected in September, recalls the Guardian.
“Unfortunately, we believe that Apple’s ‘red line’, the moment when the company will say ‘stop, that’s enough, we can no longer cooperate with the Chinese regime and respond positively to their demands for censorship,’ is still very far.”deplores Benjamin Ismail, director of the Apple Censorship project linked to the organization GreatFire, which denounces Chinese online censorship, on The Register website.
“Is it only a matter of time before Apple starts removing applications from its AppStore that contain the characters ‘台湾/台灣’ (Taiwan) without specifying ‘Province of China’? »asks the project’s Twitter account. A report that also recalls that the Cupertino company has already taken other questionable measures towards China, such as removing the flag of Taiwan from the list of its emojis in certain regions of the world, notably Hong Kong.
Is it a matter of time before @Apple starts removing apps whose name contains the characters “台湾/台灣” (Taiwan) with… https://t.co/bdQRHxydee
