U.S. airlines including American, Delta, and United are poised to capitulate to Chinese demands to remove references to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau as separate nations.
Last time I wrote about this, U.S. airlines had collectively deferred to the U.S. government, saying they would take advice from the State Department.
> Read More: U.S. Airlines Brashly Defy China: Consequences Coming?
It appears a final decision has been made. Reuters reports:
A U.S. airline executive briefed on the issue told Reuters that the U.S. State Department notified China’s embassy in Washington late on Monday of the decision by U.S. airlines to only list certain destinations by city on both Chinese and English websites, and not refer to Taiwan as a jurisdiction.
Another source in Beijing said he was informed unofficially by the U.S. government that airlines would only use certain city names in the future.
A senior U.S. government official said the change was ultimately the airlines’ choice to make.
CONCLUSION
So it looks like Beijing has scored a diplomatic victory here. Tomorrow, July 25th, is the official “final” deadline, so we will see by morning if the airline websites have been updated. As of now, Taiwan and Hong Kong still appear as separate countries on the websites of Delta and United. Taiwan has already been removed from the AA U.S. website as a separate country/region.
As I’ve said about many things on many occasions – money talks, and [a vernacular term for fertilizer] walks. There was no way the airlines were going to risk the Chinese market, even if they regard Taiwanese/Hong Kong/Tibetan sovereignty as a principle.
The Chinese air market may be big but until they improve their crappy products the Chinese consumers and businessmen will still rely on US carriers to do business here. Not sure how much their government can freeze the US out.
Are you kidding me? I can’t find a single Asian who prefer US airlines to any Asian carriers.
You’ve obviously never flown on a mainland Chinese carrier.
Almost every Mainland Chinese from PRC I know (hundreds of them) prefers mainland China’s airlines due to language issues and believe it or not, preference for the sh!t they served because at least it tastes familiar to them.
I’ve flown them several times before. Although I can’t say they are quite comparable to other Asian carriers like ANA or JAL, still Air China, China Eastern and alike are miles better than those Economy Minus seats offered on United or AA.
I know of companies that are changing Taiwan references in data tables, billing systems, etc. to “Taiwan, Province of China”. Less disruption than eliminating a country choice all together. I’d expect something similar for airlines.
Taiwan is always part of “China”. Well, by constitution, Republic of China. Nobody is wrong.
Trump should demand that Beijing and Shanghai be listed as Peking, USA and Shanghai, USA or face stiff penalties. One USA policy!
Or Trump should demand that Shanghai be listed as “Shanghai, Republic of China” as it should be, ha ha, according to Chiang Kai-Shek.
Maybe just get rid of countries. Refer to airports as Taipei, Seoul (Incheon), Shanghai, Cleveland, Atlanta, etc. Or put a footnote…
Taipei, Republic of China(1)
Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
Atlanta, GA, USA
(1) Republic of China per local government. Also referred to as Taiwan. Claimed by the People’s Republic of China.
“Maybe just get rid of countries.”
That’s exactly what United has done for the countries in question. Past midnight on the search engine the country designator for Taiwan (TW) is gone, but so is the country designator for all airports/cities in the PRC.
HKG = Hong Kong (HKG)
TPE = Taipei (TPE – Taoyuan)
TSA = Taipei (TSA – Songshan)
PEK = Beijing (PEK – Capital)
PVG = Shanghai (PVG – Pu Dong)
CTU = Chengdu (CTU)
Compared with other countries, where the designator remains –
LHR = London, GB (LHR – Heathrow)
ICN = Seoul, KR (ICN – Incheon)
NRT = Tokyo, JP (NRT – Narita)
SIN = Singapore, SG (SIN)
HAN = Hanoi, VN (HAN)
Before midnight HKG was listed as “Hong Kong, Hong Kong, CN (HKG)”
Lapdogs and lickspittles, dancing in sync to Beijing’s tune. Taiwan is a wonderful country and deserves more support than it gets. No one who has ever been there ( at least not since 1949) could possibly mistake it as part of China. What a complete crock those nutty Maoists like to spin.
Hong Kong learned the hard way that Beijing can’t be trusted ( and Tibet of course, it goes without saying).
Hong Kong had no choice as they were bounded by a treaty. Taiwan never was China, its was more like Australia being part of the former British empire but not Britain itself.
Another instance of the party-state imposing its worldview under the implicit threat of economic bullying.
Thank God we live in a free society where comments calling it out can stand without censors removing it within minutes.
In the United app, all Chinese cities are all now only shown in city names. That’s not limited to TPE, KHH, but also to HKG, MFM, and even to PEK, PVG, SHA, just to name a few. Fair game, ha?
This is a great solution. I love it.
Will we (U.S. citizens) now need a visa to enter Taipei (China) ?