China’s on the warpath again in its campaign to force foreign airlines to stop referring to Taiwan as a separate country rather than part of China. It’s set a deadline of July 25 for 26 airlines to revise their websites.
Taiwan has operated under a separate government since the end of China’s revolution in 1950, but it is still officially part of China, and Chinese authorities are sensitive about the distinction. Last year, some airlines that still listed Taiwan as a country were unable to operate their websites in China.
Eighteen airlines have since complied, including Air France, Lufthansa, British Airways, Air Canada and the big Mideast carriers; American, United and Delta are still on the non-compliant list. Japan’s two big carriers, JAL and ANA, came in for particularly sharp criticism after Chinese officials noted they had made the change, but only on their Chinese-language website.
Behind the stream of announcements and publicity, there’s an implied threat to the airlines: The spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, at a press conference on the issue, said that the change is necessary to comply with Chinese law and feelings, and that “This is the basic requirement for any foreign company doing business in China.”
