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Date: Sep 2, 2018
By: Don Feder

It’s been a busy summer for China – thinking up new and exotic ways to attack Taiwan, the neighbor over which it absurdly claims sovereignty. For Beijing, nothing is too petty in this regard.

The mandarins of the People’s Republic targeted Taiwan on three fronts.

On April 25th, China’s Civil Aviation Administration ordered international airlines to remove all references to Taiwan from their websites, unless it was designated part of Mainland China. They were given 90 days to comply or face unspecified penalties. The White House called the demand “Orwellian nonsense.”

The airlines did Beijing’s bidding. The last week in July, those that fly to Taiwan (including American, United and Delta) told Beijing they would toe the party line.

Now, you can no longer fly to Taiwan or its capital city, Taipei. Instead, you can go to “Taiwan, China” or the “Taiwan Region of China” or “Taipei, China” (none of which actually exist), perpetuating the myth that when you go to Taipei, you’re traveling to a city in the People’s Republic of China.

In reality, Taiwan was governed from the Mainland for, at most, four of the last 123 years, from the end of World War II to the end of China’s civil war. It was never part of the People’s Republic. The seat of its government is Taipei, not Beijing. Its president and legislature are democratically elected, not appointed by the Communist Party. Its people are among the freest in Asia, not subjects of a government in which they have no say.
[FULL  STORY]