Japanese Airlines Face Protest for Calling Taiwan Part of China

June 19, 2018

Taipei- Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways have started citing Taiwan as "China Taiwan" in Chinese characters on their official websites for customers in mainland China.

In response, Taiwan's foreign ministry lodged a protest against the two Japanese carriers on Monday through the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, the de facto embassy, calling strongly for the removal of the word "China" in references to Taiwan.

Based on Beijing's One China policy, the Civil Aviation Administration of China has called on 44 carriers across the world to refer to Taiwan on their websites as Chinese territory.

Out of consideration for business relations with China, JAL and ANA have abided by the request.

According to the two companies, the "China Taiwan" reference was introduced on Tuesday on their websites targeting customers from mainland China as well as Hong Kong, while websites targeting Japanese, Taiwanese and English speakers refer only to "Taiwan."

"We are still discussing how to respond (to the Taiwanese request) with related government ministries and agencies," said a JAL official. Jiji Press