Boycotting foreign products has little to do with patriotism

"TO ANY EMPLOYEE who buys an iPhone 7, come and quit your job." An open letter written by the owner of a company in Central China's Henan province to his employees has gone almost viral online. The administrative department of the company has confirmed the letter's authenticity, saying those who buy iPhones are "unpatriotic". A comment in Beijing Youth Daily questions the logic:

When the news first became public, many viewed it as a joke, although some irrational netizens said "no patriotic Chinese should buy an iPhone 7; they should buy Huawei instead".

Buying a foreign product does not make a person unpatriotic. And since China and the United States are interdependent economies and most iPhones are made in China, boycotting them will hurt Chinese industries and workers.