Beijing unimpressed by United Airlines’ ‘flexible’ approach to Taiwan
Ministry says foreign companies should stick to ‘common consensus’ on one-China principle after airline lists Taiwan and Hong Kong by currencies
China’s foreign ministry on Thursday said no one could violate the “one China” principle, referring to United Airlines listing Taiwan and Hong Kong by their currencies to get around Beijing’s demand to identify them as part of China.
It came after state-run tabloid Global Times attacked the carrier for “attempting to fool Chinese”.
United Airlines now lists “New Taiwan Dollar”, “Chinese Yuan” and “Hong Kong Dollar” among destination names such as Indonesia, Japan and New Zealand on its website, after the mainland aviation regulator demanded all carriers identify self-ruled Taiwan, as well as semi-autonomous Hong Kong and Macau, as part of China.
Responding to a question at a press briefing about the airline’s move, which was praised by Taipei, ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying repeated Beijing’s stance that there was only one China, and that Taiwan is part of it.
“This is the common consensus in the international community, and all foreign companies in China should stick to that,” Hua said. “No one can step away from the basic principle of one China, no matter how hard they try to be flexible.”