Local police have been taking action to contain scattered protests in China calling for a boycott of U.S. products, especially fast-food restaurants like KFC, as protests continued Tuesday after an international arbitration court ruled against China's maritime claims last week.
Dozens of people gathered outside a KFC restaurant in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province on Tuesday, flashing banners that said "Boycott the U.S., Japan and South Korea; Boycott KFC and McDonalds! Wake up fellows," according to photos and videos uploaded online.
The protesters attacked a police officer who was trying to take away the banners, according to a report by news portal sohu.com. The mob shouted "Patriotism is not illegal," the report said.
There is no information about whether any arrests were made after the officer was pushed and elbowed away.
This was one of a dozen protests in China following The Hague arbitration tribunal's ruling that favored the Philippines in the South China Sea territorial disputes. The US and Japan are believed to be behind the drama, while a joint U.S.-South Korean decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system in the Korean Peninsula has added fuel to the public anger in China.
Local police have started to warn people not to use radical and illegal ways to boycott foreign brands and products after protests broke out in at least a dozen cities and counties, including Changsha in Hunan Province, Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province and Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province.
The scale of the protests is far smaller than those that took place in late 2012 when tens of thousands of angry people took to the streets in dozens of Chinese cities to protest the "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, after which Sino-Japanese ties hit a new low. Some protesters lost control, smashing Japanese-brand cars and even injuring the Chinese drivers.
'Don't spread anger at home'
The protests over the last few days mainly targeted KFC branches, although it is not known why they were singled out. In many cases, only dozens of people were involved, and more protests occurred in smaller cities like Laoting in Hebei Province.
Many local police started to use social media platforms like Sina Weibo and WeChat to warn about irrational and illegal protests against foreign brands.
The public security bureau in Siyang, a county in Suqian, Jiangsu Province, said on its official Weibo account that "patriotism is positive but don't spread your anger in our own territory."
Li Guangchun, a police officer from the Siyang public security bureau, told the Global Times that they posted the warning on Weibo to prevent people from using illegal and radical ways to express their patriotic emotions. "Many people are sharing misleading information and urging people to use radical measures to boycott foreign brands on WeChat and Weibo, but there have been no protests in Siyang so far," Li said.
One blogger tried to use the wave of patriotism to further his fame, reported news website Guancha. After entering a KFC restaurant, he swore at people, pretending to be a patriot, but, said the website, it was found that previously he had resorted to cheap stunts to attract attention.
Some people have called for a boycott of Philippine products, such as mangos, but the online patriotic calls have not been translated into action on larger trading and business relationships.
Gao Yan, deputy minister from the Ministry of Commerce, said Tuesday at a press conference in Beijing that the online boycott of Philippine products never happened.
She added that trade between China and the Philippines is stable and China is looking forward to deeper cooperation with all ASEAN countries, including the Philippines.
