American Airlines revises website to change Taiwan reference

[webfact]

American Airlines revises website to change Taiwan reference

 

People walk past an American Airlines logo on a wall at John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport in in New York November 27, 2013. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/Files

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American Airlines Group Inc late on Tuesday confirmed it had changed how its website refers to Taiwan, a move expected to be followed by two other major U.S. carriers by Wednesday in an effort to avoid Chinese penalties.

 

Reuters reported earlier on Tuesday that the three major carriers were set to change how their websites refer to Taiwanese airports.

A check of American's website late on Tuesday showed it now only lists Taipei's airport code and city, but not the name Taiwan.

 

Beijing has 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 U.S. requests for talks on the matter, adding to tension in relations already frayed by an escalating trade conflict.

 

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.

 

United Airlines and Delta Air Lines Inc still included references to Taiwan as of late Tuesday, according to checks of their websites.

The U.S. State Department and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment late on Tuesday.

 

Numerous non-U.S. airlines including Air Canada, Lufthansa and British Airways had already made changes to their websites, according to Reuters checks, after China's Civil Aviation Administration sent a letter to 36 foreign air carriers earlier in the year.

 

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Sandra Maler and Michael Perry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-07-25

[candide]

And the next step is probably to demand them to show "Taipei, China". ?

[spidermike007]

Weak. Weak. PC. PC. Companies and individuals, and states must say no to the Chinese nonsense. They are a despot nation, run by super corrupt dictatorial billionaires, and their intent is to establish control of the planet, sooner or later. They simply want to regain the place they had in history six or seven hundred years ago. And by allowing oneself to be cowed into submission, like the weak American carriers, the job is being made easier, and they are revealing themselves as enablers of the despot Xi. Shameful behavior. All for an extra buck. Weak!

[canopus1969]

Pussies   

[55Jay]

????

 

Well, besides revenue and making nice with a rich customer, I wonder if China would mess around with airways and overflights to punish non-compliance.  Similar to some of the measures taken during the row in the GCC ~ Qatar, et al. 

 

On that note, yeah, the bun fight when the Arabs started calling the local lake the Arabian Gulf.  The Persians were livid.   One heck of a flame war on internet chat rooms and message boards.

[Ulic]

Step up Donald. Impose the tariffs on 100% of Chinese goods. 

[DoctorG]

They will eventually annex Taiwan and the West will do nothing, apart from complain of course.

[Jonmarleesco]

And telling the Chinese where to shove it is apparently a non-starter

 

[soalbundy]

Making China great again

[Jonmarleesco]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Beijing has demanded that foreign firms, and airlines in particular, not refer to Taiwan as non-Chinese territory on their websites

Not sure why they would refer to it as non-Chinese, or otherwise.

[Srikcir]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

a move described by the White House in May as "Orwellian nonsense."

Something which the White House is very adroit with.

[phkauf]

What a wasted opportunity for these companies to stand up to the bullying by China. What would China have done, banned them from flying to China? The US Government would have reciprocated against Chinese carriers (all of which are state owned and run by friends of Xi). There's no way China would have followed through on their threats given the potential consequences. 

China's behavior towards Taiwan is despicable and needs to be addressed before it gets out of hand. Sooner or later they will try to use force and that will drag the US into a conflict nobody wants. 

 

[Thailand]

1 hour ago, Jonmarleesco said:

Not sure why they would refer to it as non-Chinese, or otherwise.

Try Google.

[geriatrickid]

2 hours ago, 55Jay said:

????

 

Well, besides revenue and making nice with a rich customer, I wonder if China would mess around with airways and overflights to punish non-compliance.  Similar to some of the measures taken during the row in the GCC ~ Qatar, et al. 

 

On that note, yeah, the bun fight when the Arabs started calling the local lake the Arabian Gulf.  The Persians were livid.   One heck of a flame war on internet chat rooms and message boards.

Overflights are not much of a threat as the space is already restricted. It's landing rights that are desired, and every foreign airline wants access. Foreigners are falling over themselves with the  mistaken  belief that there is gold to be gained. The joke is on them.

 

However,  China is technically correct as Taiwan is a rogue state that owes its origins to a brutally corrupt criminal regime that itself had no legitimacy when it seized  Formosa.  Most people don't even know that  the Nationalists invaded and stole the land from the natives who are related to Polynesians. The origins of Taiwan were not in democracy or good government or anything nice.

 

 

[Srikcir]

20 minutes ago, phkauf said:

The US Government would have reciprocated against Chinese carriers

The problem is that the consequences of trade actions can be both uncontrolled and/or unanticipated. Let's say the US bans Chinese flight to/from US and US territories. The China retaliates by cancelling $20 billion in new Boeing aircraft orders and bans US carrier flights to/from China.

PS: United Airlines alone operates 20% of all flights between China and United States.

Trade wars are not easy to win nor avoid hurting one's own nation.

 

But China has made a political move, not economic or military action. The US could counter with a diplomatic action that disenfranchises China's claimed dominance in the region. What comes to my mind immediately is giving American names to the disputed atolls/islands in the South China Sea.

 

Or better yet, Trump endorses rejoining TPP as soon as possible by Presidential Order!  In fact Trump directed his economic advisers in April 2018 to look into renegotiating the US back into TPP.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/12/17230058/trump-trans-pacific-partnership-trade-deal-renegotiate

[Trouble]

Better yet, maybe the US should open a full Embassy in Taipei and recognize the ROC as an independent nation. Wonder what Beijing would say to that? Considering the current intricacies of the two economies, it might be difficult for China to do anything at all.  Considering how the ROC and USA were staunch allies, it all went south when Kissinger and Nixon wanted to open up the relationship with Beijing and just dumped the ROC.  The one China policy was never a good way to make a deal with Beijing work. It was all about the optics at the time and here we are thanks to Henry Kissinger. 

[Ron19]

Troll post removed.

[jimmyyy]

16 hours ago, DoctorG said:

They will eventually annex Taiwan and the West will do nothing, apart from complain of course.

If they try to annex Taiwan by force The US will respond and we will have a major war.  There is no way around it.  Its US doctrine.  Don't fool yourself into thinking its not.

[Credo]

2 hours ago, jimmyyy said:

If they try to annex Taiwan by force The US will respond and we will have a major war.  There is no way around it.  Its US doctrine.  Don't fool yourself into thinking its not.

Unless, of course, the President is otherwise occupied with something important like, kneeling during the national anthem.

 

[Bluespunk]

On 7/25/2018 at 9:49 AM, webfact said:

Numerous non-U.S. airlines including Air Canada, Lufthansa and British Airways had already made changes to their websites, according to Reuters checks, after China's Civil Aviation Administration sent a letter to 36 foreign air carriers earlier in the year.

Cowards. 

[Bluespunk]

On 7/25/2018 at 1:30 PM, spidermike007 said:

Weak. Weak. PC. PC. Companies and individuals, and states must say no to the Chinese nonsense. They are a despot nation, run by super corrupt dictatorial billionaires, and their intent is to establish control of the planet, sooner or later. They simply want to regain the place they had in history six or seven hundred years ago. And by allowing oneself to be cowed into submission, like the weak American carriers, the job is being made easier, and they are revealing themselves as enablers of the despot Xi. Shameful behavior. All for an extra buck. Weak!

Nothing to do with PC.