Apple became a target of
Anti-U.S. protest in
China this week, following an international ruling against the country's controversial territorial claims.
Reuters reports that a "handful" of u**fficial
Apple stores were picketed and social media users encouraged each other to destroy their
Apple products, as the company became a symbol of perceived injustice in its biggest overseas market.
Earlier this month, The Hague declared that
China has ** legal basis for its claim to most of the South
China Sea, prompting state media to call the international court a "puppet" of external forces, and accuse the U.S. of turning the Philippines (which filed the case) against China.
About a week later, on Tuesday, over 100
Protestors picketed four u**fficial
Apple dealers in the eastern province of Jiangsu, urging customers **t to buy the genuine
Apple goods on sale.
"They chanted, 'boycott American products and kick iPhones out of China,'" store owner Zhu Yawei told
Reuters. "But **thing really happened: ** fights, ** smashing."
Meanwhile, anti-Apple sentiment flooded Chinese social media as people took to microblogging site Weibo to upload pictures of what they described as their smashed iPhones.
**t all
Apple users shared the same view, however, and state media called for restraint following the limited protests.
"It's cheap nationalism and outright stupidity," said Shan Mimi, a 23-year-old assistant at a Shanghai law firm. "But if you were to offer me an (upcoming)
iPhone 7, then I would gladly smash my
iPhone 6!"
"I didn't smash my iPhone," one Weibo user told
Reuters. "All I did was find a photo (of a smashed handset) on the internet and let off some steam. Boycotting
Apple would only make Chinese people lose their jobs - many work for Apple."
Though the protests were small, some observers expressed concern about the impact they could have on
Apple in the longer term, citing protests over the country's territorial dispute with Japan in 2012 that turned violent. Japanese automakers suffered plummeting sales in
China as a result of the unrest and cut manufacturing in the country by half.
"There's **t much
Apple or any other foreign firm can do to prevent such patriotic protests," Canalys research analyst Nicole Peng told
Reuters. "These incidents happen every few years."
Apple has faced a number of setbacks in
China in recent months, including
patent disputes,
online rights infringement cases,
product security reviews, and
iTunes store closures. The company has also seen it lose market share due to increased competition from domestic rivals such as Huawei, Vivo and Oppo.
Despite the challenges,
Apple continues to
expand its retail presence in the country and
strategically invest in the market to better understand its wider potential.
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