SHANGHAI: Japanese retailer Muji has been fined 200,000 yuan (US$31,300) in Shanghai for using packaging that lists Taiwan as a country, underscoring China’s growing sensitivity to how companies refer to the self-ruled island. Muji, which is owned by Ryohin Keikaku Co, imported 119 clothes hangers from Japan last year in packaging that marked Taiwan as the “country of origin“, the Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce said in a statement. The Muji packaging violated Chinese advertising law which warns against hurting China’s dignity and interest, said the statement, which was published last month but reported by Chinese media on Wednesday. China has been increasing its efforts to police language used by firms to describe territories such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Hong Kong and Macau are former European colonies that are now part of China but run largely autonomously.

Source: New Strait Times May 24, 2018 03:33 UTC