No flouting of China's core interests will be tolerated

What if a Chinese enterprise listed Alaska or Hawaii as an independent country rather than a state of the United States? It would definitely be considered as having infringed on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the United States. Of course, none of them would be stupid enough to make such a mistake as they well know that they should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a country when doing business there.

However, Marriott International did that by listing China's Tibet autonomous region, the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan as independent countries in a questionnaire to members of its loyalty program. Some staff members of Marriott even gave thumbs up for "Tibet independence". Other foreign companies, such as Delta Airlines and other carriers have done the same thing on their official websites.

These foreign companies should be aware that Chinese people are particularly sensitive to the status of Tibet, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, which are all parts of China. There is not the least reason for Marriott and the other foreign companies to list these regions as independent countries on any occasion. They should have known that they would provoke a strong reaction from Chinese people.