CNBC News
Date: July 26, 2018
By: David Reid
GREG BAKER | AFP | Getty Images
A sign indicates the departure area for flights leaving Beijing airport on July 25, 2018.
- American, Delta, Hawaiian and United have changed how they refer to self-governed Taiwan on their websites to avoid Chinese penalties ahead of a Wednesday deadline.
- However the Chinese Aviation authority says the changes are incomplete, although does not specify why.
- China has previously asked that airlines in particular do not refer to Taiwan as a non-Chinese territory on their websites.
Four U.S. airlines have failed to satisfy China’s aviation
GREG BAKER | AFP | Getty Images
A sign indicates the departure area for flights leaving Beijing airport on July 25, 2018.
regulator over their website descriptions of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
China is asking foreign companies to avoid referring to Taiwan in particular as a country in its own right. Beijing policy dictates that China will refuse diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the island as a sovereign state.
At present most sovereign states only hold official diplomatic recognition with the mainland People’s Republic of China (PRC), designating it, with some ambiguity, as the sole representative of China. Just 17 of 163 United Nations formally hold diplomatic relations with Taiwan, also referred to as the Republic of China (ROC).
In May, Washington described the Chinese demands over Taiwan naming as “Orwellian nonsense” and requested talks on the matter. China refused to engage and set a deadline of July 25 for firms, especially airlines, to make the changes. [FULL STORY]