Editor’s note for Friday, April 2, 2021

My thoughts today:

Swedish clothing retailer H&M can’t get a break. It’s still reeling from a state-encouraged consumer boycott in China because of its statements about Xinjiang cotton, and a potential backlash in the West to its actions to appease the Chinese government. Now there’s this, via East Asia security scholar Khang Vu:

Vietnamese netizens are calling for a boycott of H&M after the company added the 9-dash line to its map of China to assuage Chinese netizens’ negative reactions.

Upcoming events:

• April 7 – Exploring Esports: What is China’s role?

Our word of the day is Facebook (脸书 liǎnshū in the P.R.C. where it is blocked, or 臉譜 liǎnpǔ in Taiwan).

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief