Slashdot Mirror
US Airlines Change Taiwan Reference On Websites Ahead of Chinese Deadline (cnbc.com)
hackingbear writes from a report via CNBC: After dragging their feet for months and requesting help from the Trump administration, all three major U.S. airlines -- American, Delta and United -- decided to change how they refer to Taiwan airports on their websites to avoid Chinese penalties right before the Wednesday deadline. Earlier this year, China demanded that foreign firms, and airlines in particular, not refer to Taiwan as a non-Chinese territory on their websites, as such practice violates Chinese laws. The White House in May slammed the demand as "Orwellian nonsense." Numerous non-U.S. airlines including Air Canada, Lufthansa, and British Airways had already made changes to their websites. The airlines "now only list Taipei's airport code and city, but not the name Taiwan," reports CNBC. It was unclear how China might punish airlines that don't comply, but it did add a clause saying regulators could change a company's permit if it did not meet "the demand of public interest." An American Airlines spokeswoman said in a statement: "Air travel is global business, and we abide by the rules in countries where we operate."
Taiwan is nothing like Hong Kong. It is a breakaway republic
It was if you swallow the propaganda. Or you could as easily say the PRC broke away from the RoC.
The republic of China was forced to shift their capital from Beijing to Taipei, just as Israel did to Tel Aviv, or Germany to Bonn.
The country was split by war, like Korea and so many others.
The problem is that the Kuomintang never declared independence, but absurdly claimed to rightfully rule all of China. This somehow worked for a couple of decades, but in 1971, the UN recognised communists PRC instead.
Now that communism is dead in all but name, you'd think a negotiation might be possible, but Taiwan is not keen on going back to authoritarian single party rule. I think we will have a stalemate for a long time to come. But then look what happened to east/west Germany so suddenly and unexpectedly.
There's much wrong in your comment.
Taiwan is not a breakaway republic. Taiwan IS STILL officially called the Republic of China. The constitution STILL includes all of the mainland territory, and even included Outer Mongolia until recently. The constitution still uses terms like Huaxia which means literally China. ROC + PRC both actually use the term huaxia in their official names.
Under the '92 consensus, both Taiwan and China basically agreed that there was one China, but they had differing opinions on what China exactly meant in terms of governance, etc.
Hong Kong WASN'T leased for a fixed period. The New Territories were leased for a fixed period, while HK and Kowloon was given in fee simple.
This is completely wrong. When you say 19th century. You mean 1895. That means for 95 years of the 19th century China had ruled Taiwan. And Taiwan was never independent since the 1600s. It was conquered by late Ming, and then later by the Qing.
You don't seem to understand Taiwan and have misstated the situation.
The current government of Taiwan is a pro-independence government. It's a democracy, and these people were voted in. There's no chance of China appointing anyone, that's just not going to happen. It's easy to make the mistake. China has been so successful at telling everyone that Taiwan == China that people start to believe it, but it simply isn't true.
There is no plan for China to take over, there is no timetable. It is fundamentally not possible nor would the electorate accept any appointments by China.
They're also pragmatists and have no interest in provoking China. This is why the status quo continues.
However the PRC has essentially bribed or strong armed almost every nation on earth to avoid formal recognition of Taiwan as an independent country. This is shameful really, but money talks. This has real effects on Taiwan, like not being able to participate in international forums. However in other respects business carries on regardless of the word games. Countries can't have embassies in Taiwan, for example, but they have 'offices' that do exactly the same thing.
It would be nice to see some leadership, from the US maybe, in resolving this absurd situation. It could start by addressing the current issue (economic threats on airlines that describe Taiwan as a country), and ideally... by formally recognising Taiwan. Trump even alluded to that, but ... it was just a bit of anti-China rhetoric it seems.
I've noticed that much of the world stopped laughing at the USA now that Trump is in the Oval Office.
Um, I think the noticing lobe in your brain mighthave stopped working.
SJW n. One who posts facts.