U.S. Airlines Bow to Chinese Demands on What to Call Taiwan

The three biggest U.S. airlines have given in to Chinese pressure and changed how they refer to self-ruled Taiwan on their websites. Beijing demanded airlines stopped referring to Taiwan as anything other than a Chinese territory online, giving a Wednesday deadline. The websites of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines now all list the airport in Taipei—the Taiwanese capital—with its code and city, but not with the name Taiwan. Cathay Pacific lists Taipei as part of China. China last month rejected U.S. requests for talks on the matter, adding to tension in relations already strained by President Trump’s trade war. The White House described the measure as “Orwellian nonsense” in May. Taiwan’s foreign ministry said it “most severely” condemned the Chinese government for attempting to “crudely and unreasonably interfere with private commercial activity and international companies’ operations.”