Earlier this week, two videos shot in Paris published by a blogger surnamed Zhang went viral on social media.
One of the videos, published under the account name Instructor Zhang’s Interesting Life, showed that the Evergreen Laurel Hotel in Paris had hung many flags in the lobby, but the Chinese mainland flag was apparently nowhere to be seen.
It also showed Zhang speaking to a mainland chef working at the hotel, who said that a manager from Taiwan had requested that the Chinese flag be taken down.
In another video, the hotel appeared to refuse Zhang’s request to put the Chinese flag back up, saying that all the other flags would also be taken down.
As of Friday, the two videos had more than 3 million views on microblogging site Weibo, and the same clips on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, had earned nearly 2 million and 1 million likes respectively.
Many internet users joined the calls for a boycott of the hotel chain and even its parent company the Evergreen group.
One popular comment said: “A hotel that is not even willing to fly the Chinese flag, do you have to let it make money off us?”
The Evergreen group is a Taipei-based shipping company whose subsidiaries include EVA Air, one of Taiwan’s two major airlines. It also owns the Evergreen Laurel Hotel, which has 10 hotels worldwide including one in Shanghai.
As of Friday, users were no longer able to book Evergreen Laurel hotels through a number of mainland travel service websites.
There has been no official comment from Beijing on the incident.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China that must be reunited with the mainland – by force if necessary. Most countries, including France, do not recognise the island as an independent state.
Liang Wen-chieh, a spokesman for Taipei’s Mainland Affairs Council, told a news conference on Thursday: “Using nationalism to disrupt business and gain traffic will not make China great. It will only make the international community increasingly resentful.”
Relations between the mainland and Taiwan have worsened in recent years, especially after the election of William Lai Ching-te, who Beijing has repeatedly called a “stubborn separatist”.
The tensions have also been fuelled by angry social media users.
A Taiwanese businessman who works in the semiconductor industry on the mainland and asked to remain anonymous said the hostility had“seriously affected” his willingness to work on the mainland.
“I hope the incident will be resolved as soon as possible and that it will not become as widespread as the anti-Japanese sentiments. There should be a way out for [the Taiwanese people],” he added.
He did not want to be forced to “choose sides between the mainland and Taiwan,” he said.
Some Chinese media also accused the Evergreen Laurel hotel’s website of not explicitly listing Taiwan as a province of China. The website was updated on Friday to list its hotels by city rather than country.
Chinese social media have repeatedly called for consumer boycotts of companies that have offended nationalist feeling, including luxury goods firms, airlines and clothing firms.
Last year, the Bulgari group faced similar calls for not listing Taiwan as a province of China on its website. The company later apologised and changed its website.
Shanghai’s Evergreen Laurel Hotel issued a statement on Thursday saying it was “deeply sorry”.
“We do not want this incident to affect the feelings of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and hope that cross-strait relations will develop peacefully and move in the direction that people on both sides look forward to,” the statement said.
When asked for comment, Evergreen Laurel’s headquarters in Taipei referred to the Shanghai hotel’s statement. The hotel in Paris has also been contacted for comment.
