Friday, April 16, 2004
China factor threatens to spoil KFC's Tibetan party
REUTERS
NEW YORK: KFC'S plan to open one of its signature fried-chicken restaurants in Tibet as early as this year is likely to face resistance from those who see American fast food as one more tool in Chinese domination of the region.
The unit of Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum Brands announced the move in January, making it one of the few Western companies to receive permission from Beijing to expand into Tibet, where Chinese troops forcefully imposed their government's rule in 1950.
But with KFC's move into Tibet comes the threat of political backlash from groups that see the company not as a symbol of US economic domination, but rather as an instrument of imperialist China, which recently has been trying to bolster Tibet's fragile economy through tourism.
With 1,000 restaurants, China is KFC's biggest market outside the United States and accounted for one-third of Yum's international profits last year.
As a result, KFC is almost certain to encounter opposition from pro-Tibet activist groups trying to characterise it as supporting Beijing's position that Tibet is a natural part of China.
China has long sought to silence pro-independence voices in the region and exiled Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in 1959 after accusing him of inciting separatism. The United States singled out China's "poor record" in Tibet in a human rights resolution proposed at the United Nations last month.
Pro-Tibet activist groups claim to have succeeded in the past at forcing companies to abandon investments in Tibet, largely through campaigns aimed at discrediting them. "You should not underestimate the pressure that can be put on some companies," said Thierry Dodin, director of Tibet Information Network, a London-based news and research service. Branded companies like KFC are particularly vulnerable to campaigns by political groups because they rely so much on projecting a positive image to consumers, he added.
KFC's closest competitor, McDonald's, has no plans to enter Tibet, a spokeswoman said.
Freya Putt, program director for the New York-based Students for a Free Tibet, said KFC would be an easy target for a boycott or ad campaign.
"They are putting themselves out there for some reputational damage," she said. "It would be a feasible thing for us to target them."
But before deciding on its next move, the group is waiting for a response to a letter it sent to the company, Putt said.
For its part, KFC is "carefully studying the marketplace with cultural sensitivity," said a spokeswoman for the company's international arm.
"KFC is non-partisan," she said, "and we believe our products should be enjoyed by people all around the world."
But experts said a KFC restaurant in Tibet would probably cater to Chinese tourists rather than native Tibetans, most of whom live in poor rural areas. A typical meal at KFC costs 17 to 18 yuan (about $2.2) in China -about a day's income in Tibet.
Many Tibetans resent Beijing's efforts to draw visitors to their destitute, largely agrarian country. They see the growth of tourism, including a new railway that will link Tibet to the neighbouring province of Qinghai, as a threat to their ancient cultural heritage.
Activists say they have forced some companies to pull out of Tibet as part of an effort to preserve that heritage.
Students for a Free Tibet said that in 1997 they and other activist groups helped drive Holiday Inn parent company Intercontinental Hotels Group to abandon its 10-year contract with a property's owner. A spokeswoman for the British company said the campaign, which encouraged an international boycott of the chain, had nothing to do with its decision not to renew the contract.
More recently, the Australia Tibet Council said earlier this year that its "Sino Gold: Hands off Tibet!" campaign, which included protests outside the Chinese consulate in Sydney, helped force Australia's Sino Gold to abandon a gold mining project. But Jake Klein, chief executive of the Sydney-based company, said this week that the move resulted from concern about the low grades of gold found in the ore, not from the pressure of political activists.
KFC has bowed to pressure-group tactics before. Last year a campaign by a US animal rights group led the company to change information it provided about the treatment of chickens raised for consumption in its restaurants.
One expert, however, said that as tourism thrives in Tibet, activists are unlikely to deter KFC and other Western companies from seeking business opportunities there.
"The sway of these groups is somewhat actually diminishing," said Chris McNally, a China specialist with the East-West Centre in Honolulu, Hawaii. "There are more and more companies moving into Tibet as infrastructure improves, and KFC certainly won't be the last."
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