White House urges US airlines to snub China over Taiwan issue
Taiwan is again becoming a bone of contention between America and China. / AFP
By Jung Min-ho
The U.S. government has urged the country's airlines not to give in to China's demands over how they refer to Taiwan, the Financial Times reported Tuesday (local time).
The Trump administration has asked United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta not to comply with a Chinese demand to use “Taiwan, China” instead of “Taiwan” on their maps and websites for customers, according to the report.
This came after Beijing demanded 36 foreign airlines stop describing Taiwan as a country.
Taiwan has been self-ruled since 1949, but China considers it part of its territory. Over the past few years, under President Xi Jinping, China has been taking aggressive steps to enforce its stance on the global stage, often by using business as an arm of state power.
Last month, the White House described the Chinese demand as “Orwellian nonsense.”
U.S. government officials told the airlines to push back and to tell China, which has extended the deadline until late June, that the Taiwan issue should be handled between governments, the report says.
Yet the Chinese threat poses a big headache for the airlines, which may lose landing spots in China for refusing to comply.