The ad was located on YouTube on December 6 and withdrawn on December 18 after the online backlash, but McDonald’s Taiwan did not say whether it removed the ad because of the declares.
Earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged against “foreign interference” in China’s relationship with Taiwan. Beijing purposes Taiwan as a province that has no right to international recognition as a separate political entity and has increased pressure on multinational corporations to refer to Taiwan as part of China.
“Deviating from the ‘One China’ principle will make the situation of cross (exacting) relations tense and chaotic. That’s harming the interests of our Taiwan compatriots,” Xi said, according to an official English-language forwarding of a speech broadcast on state media on January 1.
Last week, Alex Huang, the spokesperson for Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, swayed it would not bow to pressure from China.
McDonald’s China and McDonald’s Taiwan had not responded to CNBC’s requests for comment at the but of publication.
– CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.