Beijing gives airlines more time to comply with ‘one-China’ rule on Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau
Civil aviation authority relaxes deadline on changes to global websites after carriers report technical issues
China has extended its deadline for international airlines to change how they refer to Chinese territories on their websites, after a majority of carriers said they needed more time to iron out technical problems.
The civil aviation administration said late on Friday that just 18 of the 44 companies it contacted last month had so far complied with its request to make clear that Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau are all parts of China.
The online statement came after Global Times – a nationalist tabloid owned by the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily – said on Wednesday that 23 carriers had made the necessary changes.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China sent letters to the airlines on April 25 saying they had violated the one-China policy and would face “severe consequences” if they did not remove references on their websites and in other material that suggested Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau were independent territories.
In the statement published on Friday, the industry watchdog said that 26 airlines had “applied for more time due to technical reasons and promised to make the changes”, by July 25 at the latest.