By Dong Sun-hwa
Lay Zhang Yixing, a Chinese member of K-pop group Exo and a Calvin Klein model, has warned the US clothing company to respect Beijing’s “one China” policy after it implied that Taiwan and Hong Kong are independent countries.
Zhang, who recently signed a contract with Calvin Klein, released an official statement on Monday to warn the company, which listed Hong Kong and Taiwan on it English website as “different regions” – separating them from mainland China. On its Chinese page, only Hong Kong was separately labelled.
“Zhang deeply loves his country and supports the one China policy,” his representative in China said in a statement on social media platform Weibo. “He is against any acts or words that split his country. All brands that collaborate with him should be careful about the issue.”
The representative said Zhang would terminate his contracts if companies he worked with did not correct their “careless mistake”.
“If there was any mistake in the past, they should immediately correct it, apologise and prevent a recurrence,” the statement says. “If not, Zhang will terminate the contract regardless of the penalty for contract breaches.”
Calvin Klein apologised on Weibo. The company said it would correct the mistake and check whether there were any similar mistakes on its websites and other platforms.
“We also respect and support China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the company said.
Other global brands, including Versace and Givenchy, have been involved in similar incidents, which prompted Chinese actress Yang Mi to end her contract with Versace. The fashion houses issued apologies to Chinese consumers.
Also on Monday, Zhang cancelled a Hong Kong concert planned for Saturday over security concerns amid the anti-government protests in the city.
To read the original story:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2019/08/732_273904.html
