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Chagee quietly deleted the "cow tongue line" in the position discovered by Vietnamese users. |
One day after domestic users discovered the illegal nine-dash line on its mobile app, the Chagee milk tea chain quietly released an update on iOS to remove it. However, the app on Android devices still contained images violating Vietnam's territorial sovereignty . Similarly, the company's official website also used a map provided by a Chinese company, containing the nine-dash line, along with incorrect information about the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos.
Previously, on March 15, domestic users discovered that the drink ordering app of the Chagee milk tea chain had an image of the illegal “cow tongue line”, violating Vietnam’s territorial sovereignty. The aforementioned F&B company was criticized and protested on social media channels. Facebook posts of the Chinese milk tea chain were filled with “indignation” and comments calling for a boycott.
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Chagee app login interface in Southeast Asia before and after repair. |
Chagee has not taken any action to respond to users. The company has quietly removed the previously advertised download link for the app. They have also blocked Vietnamese customers from downloading the app directly from Google Play and AppStore. However, these measures have not helped Chagee resolve the crisis. Their app currently has only 1 star on the “online market”, with most of the reviews being negative.
The app version released on iOS on March 16 was briefly described as a “bug fix.” The only difference is the login screen, which previously contained an image of a map and the illegal “nine-dash line.” However, the app’s internals remain unchanged. The map locating Chagee stores still points to the milk tea chain’s website, which contains false information about Vietnam’s territorial sovereignty.
Responding to Tri Thuc - Znews , Mr. HL, a mobile application developer, said that Apple approves apps to the store faster. Meanwhile, Android opens updates on a fixed day of the week. That may be why the Google Play version of Chagee has not changed. The most recent update of the above chain was on March 13.
Chagee, known in Chinese as Bawang Teaji, is a high-end milk tea chain founded in 2017 in Shanghai by founder Zhang Junjie. The brand rapidly expanded and by 2024 operated more than 5,000 stores across East Asia.
Before this chain, many other companies also failed to control their products, allowing the nine-dash line to exist, which was discovered and boycotted by users. Recently, the image suspected to be the nine-dash line on the Baby Three doll also became a controversial topic in Vietnam.
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