Page 16 - Forbes - Asia (September 2018)

FORBES ASIA
GROUNDS FOR DEBATE

POLITICAL

ROAST

Taiwanese-owned chain

draws a VIP who is of-limits on

the mainland.

BY RALPH JENNINGS

aiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s summer stop at an
85C bakery cafe in Los Angeles let a bitter atertaste
on both sides of the Straits.
When word of Tsai’s visit reached China, accom-
Tpanied by photos of the president with drink in hand,
netizens on the mainland began calling for a boycott of the chain in
their country because they saw the event as an endorsement of Tai-
wan’s independence. he chain’s parent company, Gourmet Master,
saw its Taipei-listed shares slump nearly 14% in the weeks follow-
ing, wiping out $224 million of its market value.
Gourmet Master appeared on the 2012 iteration of Forbes Asia’s
Best Under A Billion companies list.
he day ater the presidential visit, the bakery-cafe chain an-
nounced its support for the “1992 Consensus,” an agreement be-
tween China and Taiwan to acknowledge that there is only “one
China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what that
means. China considers self-ruled Taiwan a part of its territory that
will eventually be reuniied with the mainland. Tsai has not public- But 85C’s attempt to appease its customers in China with the
ly endorsed the consensus since taking oice in 2016, which has re- statement of support for the 1992 Consensus generated resentment
sulted in mainland diplomats cutting of communication with their in Taiwan, with one legislator suggesting that the cafe rebrand it-
Taiwanese counterparts. self as 92C.
“It is a kind of reality that Taiwan companies have to face so A spokeswoman for 85C declined to elaborate further on the
far,” says Wu Chung-li, a political science research fellow at Aca- controversy or discuss any decline in sales at the chain’s China
demia Sinica. “On one hand, they have to face the domestic issue, stores.
but on the other hand they have to also consider the great market he majority of 85C’s business comes from its 600 bakery cafes
of China, so that is why it’s no wonder the 85C cofee shop the next in China; it operates an additional 430 outlets in its homeland of
day declared their support for the 92 Consensus.” Taiwan. he chain’s name stands for 85 degrees Celsius, which is

14 | FORBES ASIA SEPTEMBER 2018