Kowtowing to China's Despots

How China is winning the battle to censor the world view of Taiwan
By Michael Smith

Alan Joyce at the IATA conference in Sydney this week. Qantas will be criticised for kowtowing to China over Taiwan's sovereignty. 

It turns out even a street address can be considered subversive in politically-sensitive China, particularly during the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
China's popular taxi-hailing app Didi was this week refusing to accepting my home address as a pick-up destination because it contains the numerals "6" and "4" -- a combination censors fear could refer to June 4, 1989 -- the date of the deadly student protests in Beijing.
Several attempts to type in the address were blocked and followed by a message which said the content contained "sensitive words".
China typically tightens internet censorship in early June, banning words such as "tank" or even combinations of numerals adding up to 64.
However, this was the first time I had heard of the Uber-like taxi service banning particular pick-up addresses.
The incident highlights the lengths to which China will go to erase events it would prefer not to see in the history books.

A candlelight vigil for victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Hong Kong's Victoria Park this week. China has written the event out of its history. 

It also demonstrates the futile battle Qantas would have faced if it had decided to stand up to Beijing on another sensitive issue - Taiwan.
The airline was in the cross-hairs of Sino-Australian political tensions this week after chief executive Alan Joyce told an international airline conference the carrier would change the way it refers to self-ruled Taiwan in its public material following China's objections.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull backed Joyce's decision, while Foreign Minister Julie Bishop took issue with China telling Australian companies what to do.
The last thing Qantas, or any other company wants, is to get caught into the middle of a complex political spat between Canberra and Beijing.
These challenges are not new.
The Australian Financial Review first reported Qantas's decision to change the way it described some destinations on its website on January 15.
"Due to an oversight, some Chinese territories were incorrectly listed as 'countries' on parts of our website. We are correcting this error," the airline said at the time.
Beijing now wants airlines to add "China" in brackets after references to Taiwan in their list of destinations.
It is a lose-lose situation.
On one hand, Qantas will be criticised for kowtowing to China over Taiwan's sovereignty.
On the other, the airline has a responsibility to shareholders to protect its business interests in China -- which is now the biggest source of tourists to Australia.
Qantas, which has a partnership with China Eastern Airlines, would prefer the whole issue to go away.
Joyce notes he is merely adopting the Australian government's position on China.
While the chief executive has taken a stand on other social issues such as gay marriage, Taiwan's sovereignty is not a battle his shareholders would want him to take on.
Qantas is not alone.
China's aviation regulator wrote to around 36 other global airlines expressing its displeasure with the way they referred to Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong in their public material.
Eighteen airlines have not yet responded.
While the US government -- which denounced Beijing's displeasure as "Orwellian nonsense" -- has urged its carriers to dig in their heels, many other carriers in Asia are complying.
Garuda Indonesia, Asiana Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Lufthansa, Air Canada and British Airways all have changed the way they refer to Taiwan, according to local media.
Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific refer to Taiwan as a "destination".
The list of other companies scrambling to appease China is also growing.
US retailer Gap, Japan's Muji and the Marriott Hotel group have made changes to material after pressure from China.
Australian infant milk group Bellamy's said in January it was changing a reference to Hong Kong on its corporate website.
China considers Taiwan a breakaway province and will not have diplomatic relations with countries that recognise it as a separate nation.
It is now effectively using its economic clout to freeze out companies that do the same thing.
"There is only one China in the world and Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau have always been parts of China," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said this week.
While many in the international community do not agree with this position, foreign governments as well as companies such as Qantas feel powerless to change it.
The US is the major exception.
Like its ability to erase references to Tiananmen Square within China, Beijing's ability to change the way the rest of the world refers to other sensitive issues such as Taiwan's independence is worrying for many.