Concerning articles published by international presses that the Swedish retailer has agreed to changing an online map with the nine-dash line in the East Sea following the Chinese Government's pressure, in a talk with a reporter of Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper yesterday, Chairman Hung said that H&M’s change of the online map has violated Vietnam’s law and the international regulations.
According to the Vietnamese Government’s decree No. 43/2017, Vietnam bans images and contents on brand names which infringe the national sovereignty of Vietnam and badly affect the country’s socio-economic activities. Mr. Hung stressed that many countries in the world including the US, Malaysia, and Indonesia have condemned China’s violations of international law in the East Sea.
The Swedish retailer has betrayed the love of Vietnamese consumers when it agreed to change the online map. Therefore, he said that a boycott of the H&M products in social networks is understandable.
The Vietnam Standards and Consumer Rights Protection Association petitioned related competent departments and agencies in Vietnam to require H&M to recall its products violating the international law in the domestic as well as international markets.
The Swedish retailer opened its first store in Ho Chi Minh City in September 2017 and then expanded its stores in Hanoi. So far, 12 H&M stores have been set up in Vietnam including five in the capital city, four in HCMC, three facilities in the Mekong Delta City of Can Tho, the Central City of Da Nang and the Northern Province of Quang Ninh.
Right after the Swedish retailer H&M agreed to change its online map following Chinese authorities’ unreasonable request of the illegal nine-dash line in the East Sea map, scores of Vietnamese consumers voiced their criticism of the Swedish retailer’s act yesterday in social networks.
For instance, nick name Tuan Phi Luong posted his opinion on H&M’s fan page that despite being a big brand name, H&M can’t distinguish between right and wrong. He added that if H&M does not rectify the map, the retailer should leave Vietnam because it has not respected the principles of the country's national sovereignty. Nick name Vu Binh Minh announced that he would stop purchasing H&M products though he has been a faithful consumer of the brand name for years.
A lot of Vietnamese consumers ordered H&M to correct the online map in social network as well as called for a boycott of the Sweden product. Some even told H&M to close its stores in Vietnam if it does not make an apology and re-correct the wrong map.
