Starbucks closed two stores in East China on Dec. 13, hours after Chinese state-run media reported the stores were using expired ingredients. Public opinion on Chinese social media platforms quickly criticized Starbucks products, which are more expensive than local Chinese brands but better in quality and taste. According to a China commentator, this is the newest case in which the Chinese regime used its propaganda system to attack a foreign enterprise. “There’s no doubt that the Starbucks scandal is a designed campaign that the Chinese regime is using to express its anger toward the U.S. government for boycotting the Beijing Olympics,” U.S.-based China affairs analyst Tang Jingyuan told The Epoch Times on Dec. 14. “[Beijing] chose Starbucks because it’s very popular in China.” Starbucks released its 2021 fiscal report on Oct. 28, in which the American brand said its “China comparable store sales increased 17 percent, driven by a 19 …