Taiwan to disappear from U.S. airlines websites

The main United States airlines will finally comply with Beijing's demands to reference Taiwan as part of China. The request, issued to 36 foreign airlines in April 2018, sparked an outrage of Taipei’s government.

Four U.S. based companies, American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta, and Hawaiian Airlines, plan to change their websites in the coming days,  Bloomberg reports citing a source close to the matter.

The island being run independently since 1949, but China still considers Taiwan as part of its territory.

Image : Doraemon.tvb

The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry commented on the decision of the American airlines saying “The existence of Taiwan in the eyes of the international community is an objective fact, which will not disappear because Beijing suppresses Taiwan”.

On May 5, 2018, amid the tariffs war between the United States and China, the White house called the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration request an “Orwellian nonsense”.

On July 25, 2018  the day of the deadline given by Beijing - American Airlines and Delta continued to mention "Taiwan" as a separate entity on parts of their websites. However, Taipei and Kaohsiung airports are no longer followed by the mention "Taiwan" when destinations of departure and arrival are researched.

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Other international airlines such as Air France-KLM, Qantas and Singapore Airlines already modified their sites for Taiwan to be followed by the mention "China". Following its codeshare agreement with Air China, Air Canada also started listing Taiwan as part of China, despite the Canadian government's disapproval.

As for Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Korean Air Lines, they figured a way around Beijing’s demand: all countries of their destinations in Eastern Asia have been removed from their website, leaving only cities. And so far, the strategy seems to work as neither China nor Taiwan complained.