Bulgari says sorry for calling Taiwan a country, Chinese netizens demand apology from brand ambassadors Shu Qi, Liu Yifei too

Luxury jeweller Bulgari is the latest international brand to face the wrath of patriotic Chinese netizens. 

On Bulgari's official website, it had listed Taiwan as a separate country, unlike Hong Kong and Macau which were listed as Hong Kong, China, and Macau, China respectively. 

Chinese netizens have threatened to boycott Bulgari, a major cause for worry for the Italian brand given how lucrative the Chinese market is. 

They also shared a list of Bulgari's brand ambassadors, which include Shu Qi, Liu Yifei, Jolin Tsai, Wu Lei, Fan Chengcheng, Yang Yang, Xu Kai and supermodel Liu Wen, and have since demanded that these stars issue apologies and stop working with the brand.

That none of the celebs have acceded to their demands after a day has only enraged these netizens further.

Shu Qi's Weibo now has comments like "Have you ended your contract yet?"

BVLGARI has since issued an apology on Weibo.

"We respect China's stance towards sovereignty and territorial integrity, we've stayed the same and never wavered," read the statement. 

They claimed there was a "negligence in managing the overseas official website" which caused them to "mislabel the addresses of the stores on the map", adding that they have changed the listing of Taiwan from "country" to "district".

However, state-owned news portal Global Times has reported that the apology “has not been accepted by many Chinese.” 

According to reports, the apology is only found on Weibo and not on Bulgari's international social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram.

Netizens have called the apology "insincere" and "proof" that the brand "only cares about money".

Bulgari indicating Taiwan as a country on their official website Bulgari's list of ambassadors: Shu Qi, Liu Yifei, Chinese model Liu Wen, Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai, Chinese stars Yang Yang, Wu Lei, Fan Chengcheng, Tong Liya, Zhao Silu, Xu Kai, Taiwanese actress Wen Qi, Chinese singers Bi Wenjun, Li Wenhan and Wu Xuanyi