US airlines cave in to pressure from China over Taiwan

WASHINGTON — United States airlines that fly to China have caved in to Chinese government pressure over the way they refer to Taiwan, sparking anger on the self-governed island.

A check of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines' websites on Wednesday morning (July 25) showed they now only list Taipei's airport code and city, but not the name Taiwan.

In an email statement to AFP, American Airlines spokeswoman Shannon Gilson said: "Like other carriers, American is implementing changes to address China's request. Air travel is global business, and we abide by the rules in countries where we operate."

Taiwan "most severely" condemned what it called the "insolent actions" of Beijing which it said was wielding its political and economic clout to pressure international firms.

"Taiwan's existence in the international community is an objective fact. It will not disappear because of suppression by Chinese authorities," Taiwan's foreign ministry said.

Financial Times quoted a Taiwan Presidential Office spokesperson as saying the island “appreciates efforts from like-minded countries and individuals that have called on the world to stand up against China’s bullying of Taiwan”, adding that officials in Taipei were exploring possible litigation on the issue.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's cabinet spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka called China's behaviour "unjust" and asked for support from the international community.

"We keep on urging the international community not to become an accomplice of China bullying Taiwan," Ms Kolas told reporters.

Beijing had demanded that foreign firms, and airlines in particular, not refer to Taiwan as non-Chinese territory on their websites, a move described by the White House in May as "Orwellian nonsense".

China set a final deadline of July 25 for the changes, and last month rejected US requests for talks on the matter, adding to tension in relations already frayed by an escalating trade conflict.

The Financial Times reported last month that US officials had asked the three carriers not to accede to the Chinese request to write “Taiwan, China” instead of Taiwan on their websites.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said it recognises some positive developments and corrections by foreign airlines.

“China stands ready to share development opportunities with foreign enterprises. We welcome their investment and hope they can start up their businesses here,” Mr Geng said at a regularly scheduled briefing, responding to a question on whether China was satisfied with changes made.

“At the same time we hope they can abide by China’s rules and regulations, our sovereign integrity and our people’s feelings.”

Hawaiian Airlines had changed its website ahead of the deadline to showing searches for flights to Taiwan's capital Taipei as "Taipei, Taipei" in dropdown menus, Reuters reported on Tuesday morning.

In Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific and subsidiary Cathay Dragon had previously listed Taiwan as its own entity, but as of Wednesday morning, the island was listed as "Taiwan, China" on both its English and Chinese language websites.

Smaller operators Hong Kong Express and Hong Kong Airlines also switched their listings to "Taiwan, China" on their English and Chinese sites.

Asked about the move, Cathay said its airlines were registered as part of "the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People's Republic of China".

"We must comply with the regulations and requirements of the relevant civil aviation authorities," it added in an emailed statement.

Other airlines, including Qantas Airways, Air France-KLM, British Airways, Air Canada and Singapore Airlines, had already changed their website classifications of Taiwan to "Taiwan, China" after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) in April sent a letter to more than 40 foreign airlines telling them that they should not place China, Hong Kong and Taiwan on an equal footing, and must refer to “China Taiwan” or the “China Taiwan region”.

Maps must display the territories in the same color as mainland China and the websites can’t place Taiwan in other categories such as South-east Asia, the order said.

“We’re a business with significant international activities and we need to deal with regulations in all of those jurisdictions,” Mr Peter Ingram, Hawaiian’s chief executive, said on Tuesday (July 24) by telephone.

“And obviously sometimes that can put us in challenging positions in one jurisdiction versus another.”

Hawaiian consulted with its US peers and government officials in both the US and China before deciding to comply, Mr Ingram said.

The company doesn’t fly to Taiwan itself but does sell tickets through a codeshare relationship with China Airlines, which flies non-stop from Taipei to Honolulu. Hawaiian also operates its own service to Beijing.

China has waged a campaign to force global businesses to conform to its world view if they want to stay in its good graces.

Democratically governed Taiwan has been a central issue among the territorial disputes, especially after the Trump administration’s growing ties with the island’s pro-independence President Tsai Ing-Wen.

China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government fled to Taipei in 1949, and the Communist Party regards the island as a province to be taken by force if necessary.

Hong Kong and Macau — also requested by the aviation authority to be referred to as Chinese territories — are special administrative regions that enjoy greater autonomy.

Airlines feared a failure to comply would result in some kind of commercial penalty from China, which would threaten the carriers’ operating conditions in the country’s fast-growing aviation market.

Air India chose to rename Taiwan as Chinese Taipei on its website after the threat of a “hefty’’ penalty for non-compliance, spokesman Mr Praveen Bhatnagar told Bloomberg News.

In early May, the White House had dismissed China’s directive to the airlines as “Orwellian nonsense”, adding it was part of a growing trend by the Chinese Communist Party to impose its political views on US citizens and private companies.

“We would oppose a government’s demand on private corporations that private corporations label something the way that the government demands it to do that,” said Ms Heather Nauert, a spokesman for the State Department. She referred questions about the airlines to the individual companies.

Last year, airlines made 7.95 million flights between China and the US, a 5.8 per cent increase. United, Air China and China Eastern together account for more than 50 per cent of the market share, followed by China Southern.

Hainan Air replaced Delta as the fifth-largest carrier on this route amid its aggressive launch of direct flights from second-tier Chinese cities to the US.

Delta resumed its daily flight between Atlanta and Shanghai on July 20, citing its commercial links with China Eastern Airlines Corp. Delta holds about a 3.5 per cent stake in China Eastern; American invested US$200 million (S$272.82 million) last year for a similarly sized share of China Southern Airlines Co.

“Private companies should be free to conduct their usual business operations free from political pressure of governments," Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said after flag carrier Qantas bowed to the demand.  AGENCIES