Airlines drop Taiwan reference

The final three of the 40-odd international airlines told by Beijing to stop referring to Taiwan as an independent country has changed how they refer to the self-governing country on their websites, buckling under pressure from China, which sees the island nation as a breakaway province.

American Airlines, Delta and United Airlines were the last international carriers to change how they refer to Taiwan on their websites hours before a deadline imposed by China expired. Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday welcomed the move, without naming any specific airline.

China didn’t specify how it would punish those carriers which didn’t change how they refer to Taiwan but had indicated that it could restrict access to its aviation market, the second largest in the world now and set to become the largest in the coming years.

The demand from China had earlier been described by Washington as “Orwellian nonsense”.

The last three joined a list of international airlines – including India’s national carrier, Air India – which now refer to Taiwan as either ‘Taiwan, China’ (single phrase) or ‘Chinese Taipei,’ exactly how China wanted.

As it sees Taiwan as a breakaway province, Beijing opposes diplomatic ties between the Taipei and other countries.

Taiwan now has diplomatic ties with only 18 countries around the globe – India, which follows the “one China policy, is not among the 18.

BEIJING: