COCA COLA LOSES ITS FIZZ IN CHINA

Soft drinks group Coca Cola is regretting its decision to feature a famous Taiwanese pop star in its Chinese marketing campaign. The American company dropped the campaign, featuring A-Mei, after she sang at the inauguration ceremony for Taiwan President Chen Shui Bian. A-Mei it seems, has since fallen out of favour in Beijing and, as the BBC’s man in Taipei, Francis Markus, told Roger White, Coca Cola's troubles reflect rather strangely on China's ambiguous attitude towards trade relations: “A famous pop star called A-Mei, described as the Madonna of Taiwan, seems to have been black-listed by the Chinese authorities as a result of having been commissioned to sing the National Anthem at the ceremony: which she did very movingly. It now appears that the Coca Cola company which carried advertisements in mainland China for their Sprite soft drink, which feature A-Mei, have been told to withdraw all advertisements featuring her, and the television stations have pulled off the ones already in circulation because she has been dubbed by the Chinese authorities as a supporter of Taiwanese independence.” Roger White asked if this was a one-off case, just because it had such a high profile after A-Mei was featured at the inauguration ceremony, or was it specifically aimed at Coca Cola? “Many businesses have made declarations saying that they support the idea of one China, and also that they support lifting the Taiwan government’s ban on direct transportation links with the mainland. Some businesses have even gone so far as to put advertisements in mainland Chinese newspapers, others have been showing their Chinese interlocutors corporate videos to prove that the bosses of the companies in Taiwan have made statements supportive of the idea of one China and not of independence. I think they are prepared to be grilled at every level and to face possible reprisals if they are seen as being on the independent side." We are still in the stage where China is using rhetoric and intimidation to put pressure on Taiwan through various channels. Francis Markus