MEA defends Air India’s move to replace ‘Taiwan’

NEW DELHI: The external affairs ministry on Thursday defended national carrier Air India’s decision of replacing Taiwan with Chinese Taipei on its website.

“I can say that Air India’s decision is entirely consistent with international norms and our own position on Taiwan since 1949,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. Kumar was referring to the ‘One China’ policy of India.

Under its ‘One China’ policy, Beijing considers Taiwan its province and opposes ties between Taipei and other capitals.

Meanwhile, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India (TECC), which is seen as the unofficial embassy of Taiwan in India, said it sent a “formal note concerning the change” to the ministry of external affairs, and is “waiting for the MEA’S official response.”

Though Air India does not have flights to Taipei, it has a code-sharing arrangement with Air China.

Kumar said only the airline can say why it has decided to change the name of Taiwan on its website now.

A spokesperson of the airline said that the national carrier had changed the name following instructions from the government. The Chinese government on Thursday ‘approved’ the move taken by Air India.

In a statement TECC “regretted that this move taken by Air India, can be seen as a gesture of succumbing to the unreasonable pressure from China.”

The decision to change the name of Taiwan comes at a time when both India and China are trying to reset their ties following last year’s military stand-off at Doklam.