Taiwan grateful to United Airlines for imaginative website solution to ‘one China’ rule

Taiwan has expressed gratitude to United for finding an unusual way to “differentiate” the island from mainland China while complying with Beijing’s “one China” demand. Ticket bookers can now see “New Taiwan Dollar”, “Chinese Yuan” and “Hong Kong Dollar” listed among destination names such as “Australia”, “India” and “Japan” when looking for currency and payment options on the company’s official website. The third-largest US airline removed Taiwan, China and Hong Kong as country or region names last month, ahead of a deadline imposed by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Beijing sees Taiwan as part of its territory, or “one China”, awaiting reunification – by force if necessary – even though the island views itself as a sovereign nation and is a self-ruling democracy. Taiwanese foreign ministry spokesman Li Hsien-chang thanked the airline for its “flexibility” in using currency names to obscure its position on “one China” or “Taiwan independence”. “We would be glad to see any flexible workaround that differentiates Taiwan subjectively from China, in any means at all,” he said Wednesday. Li said Beijing’s pressure on international airlines was aimed at “dwarfing Taiwan” and making Taiwan part of mainland China, which was “absolutely unacceptable”.<br/>