Controversy Leads Hotel to Post Apology Statement on Website
Taiwan Government Also Expresses Displeasure
A Paris branch of a Taiwanese hotel chain has sparked controversy in China, including calls for a boycott, after the Chinese national flag, the Five-star Red Flag, was omitted from its Olympic international flag decorations for the Olympics.
On the 16th, multiple media outlets including Taiwan's Central News Agency and Taipei Times reported that Chinese influencer Zhang Jiaoguan (張敎官) stated on the video platform TikTok on the 13th that "the Five-star Red Flag was missing from the Olympic international flag decorations, and I requested the Paris Evergreen Laurel Hotel to hang it." However, the hotel refused, saying that manager approval was required.
In response, Zhang Jiaoguan said he canceled his hotel stay despite the cancellation fee and left the site.
Notably, the video also featured a person claiming to be a Chinese chef at the hotel, alleging that the Taiwanese general manager had instructed staff to remove the previously displayed Chinese national flag. This video gained popularity on the Chinese social networking service (SNS) Weibo, with over 110 million views. Comments called for a boycott of the Evergreen Hotel. The search term "Taiwanese manager of Evergreen Laurel Hotel removed the Five-star Red Flag" even ranked second among popular searches on Weibo.
In a follow-up video, Zhang Jiaoguan revealed, "I visited the hotel again on a weekday to meet the operations team, but was told that the flags in the lobby Olympic decorations were randomly selected and did not include the Chinese flag." He also said one of the hotel managers mentioned that the authority over lobby decorations belonged to the hotel.
As the controversy escalated, Chinese travel agencies suspended reservation services for the Evergreen Laurel Hotel's Paris and Shanghai branches.
Eventually, the Evergreen Hotel posted an apology statement on the Shanghai branch's website. The hotel stated, "Our response to the flag controversy was not perfect," and expressed hope that the incident would not negatively affect goodwill between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait (China and Taiwan). The hotel also noted that the late founder of the Evergreen Group, Chang Yung-fa, devoted his life to cross-strait trade cooperation. The hotel added that it would continue the founder's legacy and support the building of peaceful cross-strait relations.
Meanwhile, the Taiwanese government expressed displeasure. At a regular briefing the previous day, Liang Yuanjie, deputy director of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), the agency responsible for mainland China affairs, criticized the incident, saying, "Using nationalism to disrupt business and increase online traffic does not make China great but only fuels international resentment."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
