Chagee quietly removes the 'nine-dash line' from its app.

In the mid-year update on March 16th, the map illustration and details of the 'nine-dash line' disappeared from the Chagee app.

Chagee has quietly removed the "nine-dash line" from the location that was discovered by Vietnamese users.

A day after being exposed by domestic users for the illegal nine-dash line appearing on its mobile app, the Chagee bubble tea chain quietly released an update for iOS to remove it. However, the app on Android devices still retains the image violating Vietnam's territorial sovereignty . Similarly, the company's official website also uses a map provided by a Chinese company, containing the nine-dash line and inaccurate information about the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos.

Earlier on March 15th, domestic users discovered that the drink ordering app of the Chagee bubble tea chain displayed an image of the illegal "nine-dash line," violating Vietnam's territorial sovereignty. The aforementioned F&B company faced criticism and protests on social media. Posts on the Chinese bubble tea chain's Facebook page were filled with expressions of "outrage," with comments calling for a boycott.

The login interface for the Chagee app in Southeast Asia before and after the fix.

Chagee has not responded to user complaints. The company silently removed the previously advertised download links for the app. They also blocked Vietnamese customers from downloading the app directly from Google Play and the App Store. However, these measures have not helped Chagee resolve the crisis. Their app currently has only one star on online marketplaces, with the majority of reviews being negative.

The app, released on iOS on March 16th, was only briefly described as a "bug fix." The only difference was the login screen, which previously displayed a map and the illegal "nine-dash line." However, the app's core remained unchanged. The map showing Chagee stores still redirects to the bubble tea chain's website, which contains misleading information about Vietnam's territorial sovereignty.

Speaking to Tri Thức - Znews , HL, a mobile app developer, said that Apple reviews apps for the store faster. Meanwhile, Android opens updates on a fixed day of the week. This may be why the Google Play version of Chagee has not yet been updated. The most recent update in the aforementioned series was on March 13th.

Chagee, known in Chinese as Ba Wang Cha Ji, is a premium bubble tea chain founded in 2017 in Shanghai by founder Zhang Junjie. The brand quickly expanded and by 2024 operated over 5,000 stores across East Asia.

Prior to this, many other companies also failed to control product quality, allowing the nine-dash line to appear, which was then discovered and boycotted by consumers. Recently, the image suspected to be the nine-dash line on Baby Three dolls also became a subject of debate in Vietnam.