US: Airlines poised to change Taiwan references as China deadline looms

Major US airlines are expected to change how their websites refer to Chinese-claimed Taiwan by Wednesday in an effort to avoid Chinese penalties, three sources said, after coordination between the carriers and the US government. Beijing has demanded that foreign firms, and airlines in particular, not refer to self-ruled Taiwan as non-Chinese territory on their websites, along with Hong Kong and Macau, 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 US requests for talks on the matter, adding to tension in relations already frayed by an escalating trade conflict. Numerous non-US airlines including Air Canada, Lufthansa and BA have already made changes to their websites, after China’s Civil Aviation Administration sent a letter to 36 foreign air carriers earlier in the year. A US airline executive briefed on the issue told Reuters that the US State Department notified China’s embassy in Washington late on Monday of the decision by US 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 US government that airlines would only use certain city names in the future. A senior US government official said the change was ultimately the airlines’ choice to make.<br/>