China's Orwellian nonsense

U.S. Airlines Unbowed by Beijing’s Demand to Call Taiwan Part of China
Delta, American and United hold out after Chinese insist they change websites, other materials
By Trefor Moss

A United Airlines Boeing 777 takes off from Hong Kong. 

SHANGHAI—Many global airlines have bowed to Chinese demands to refer to Taiwan as part of China, but a handful of others—including the three main U.S. international carriers—haven’t, amid a U.S. backlash against Beijing’s insistence on conformity with its views.
The U.S. airlines look to be taking their cue from Washington, with a bipartisan group of U.S. senators urging the carriers to stand up to Chinese bullying and the White House branding China’s request “Orwellian nonsense.”
“We have deferred the matter to the U.S. government since this is a diplomatic issue to be resolved among governments,” a United Airlines spokesman said in a statement given to The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
Though China claims Taiwan, the island is run by its own democratically elected government.
A spokeswoman for Delta Air Lines, which has yet to change its stance, said the airline was in close consultation with the U.S. government on the matter. 

An American Airlines spokeswoman declined to comment on the carrier’s noncompliance.
Other holdouts as of Thursday included Japan’s ANA and JAL, Korea’s Asiana and Korean Air , Air India and Vietnam Airlines. 

These carriers are from countries with historical or political reasons for wanting to stand up to China—including territorial disputes. 

Beijing has set a June 24 deadline for compliance.

A model China Southern Airlines Co. aircraft displayed at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, China, last month. U.S. airlines have thus far not bent to Beijing’s demands to refer to Taiwan as part of China. 

“This is another example of China using its growing global heft to ensure that its view of the world informs the behavior of organizations, countries and companies world-wide,” said Kenneth Jarrett, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.
“For companies doing business in China this may eventually boil down to a choice: Amend your global websites to reflect China’s view of its territorial sovereignty, or face being excluded from or disrupted in the China market,” Mr. Jarrett said.
China wrote to airlines in April demanding that they change their websites and other materials—not just in China, but globally—and adopt language approved by Beijing regarding self-ruled Taiwan.
Hong Kong and Macau, which are special administrative regions of China, are also included in the order.
Airlines were initially given 30 days to comply, though the deadline was later extended until June 24 to give them extra time to make the required changes. 

Airlines that don’t comply are liable for punishments including more frequent government inspections and the loss of landing slots at Chinese airports, according to China’s civil aviation authority.
The country’s authorities are more aggressively demanding that consumer-facing information reflect China’s world view. 

This year alone, at least a dozen U.S. and other Western brands and companies—including Marriott International, the Zara apparel chain and Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz unit—have drawn Beijing’s ire for what it considered inflammatory content.

The Taipei Marriott hotel earlier this year. The international hospitality giant has come under fire from China’s government. 

Most companies have acquiesced, fearful of being cut out of the world’s second-largest economy. Marriott even fired an hourly worker who used a company Twitter account to “like” a tweet by a Tibetan separatist group. 

Beijing has zero tolerance for "separatist" movements in Tibet, which is a colony of China.
But China’s latest demands are drawing political counter-fire in the U.S., from the Trump administration and from the bipartisan group of senators, which wrote to U.S. airline chief executives last month vowing to oppose Chinese interference in American companies.
The demands come against a backdrop of trade tensions between the U.S. and China and more interaction between Washington and Taipei.
The U.S.-backed American Institute in Taiwan on Tuesday opened a new $240 million de facto embassy in the Taiwanese capital, a move which drew stern criticism from Beijing.
Surprisingly, two Hong Kong-based airlines with strong links to the Beijing government have so far not made the changes demanded.
Cathay Pacific is 20%-owned by state-run Air China, while Hong Kong Airlines is controlled by HNA Group, another Chinese state company. 

Yet the two carriers don’t describe Taiwan as part of China or refer to Hong Kong as a special administrative region of China.
Neither airline responded to questions.
Among the airlines that have complied with China’s wishes are Air France , British Airways, Lufthansa , Emirates, Qatar Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Singapore Airlines , Thai Airways , Turkish Airlines and Air Canada. 

They now refer to “Taiwan, China” in their list of destinations.
Australia’s Qantas had yet to make changes to its website, though its chief executive, Alan Joyce, said last week that the airline would do so before the deadline.
A spokesman for Montreal-based International Air Transport Association said China had set out some “very stringent requirements” in demanding that airlines make global changes.
“Airlines are nonpolitical businesses serving many global markets,” he said, adding that they find it tough “when government requirements are politically rather than operationally motivated.”

Two Chinas Policy

De Facto U.S. Embassy In Taiwan Dedicates New Complex 
By COLIN DWYER

Politicians and officials — including Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing-wen (center) — pose during the dedication ceremony Tuesday for the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto U.S. Embassy in Taipei.

The same day that Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un held their historic summit in Singapore, several U.S. politicians and officials attended another, far less heralded ceremony just to the north: It was the dedication of a ritzy new complex for the American Institute in Taiwan, or AIT — and China wasn't happy about it.
That's because despite its innocuous name, the organization has long functioned as the de facto U.S. Embassy in Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing considers a renegade Chinese province.
Since the U.S. established diplomatic ties with China nearly four decades ago, Washington has acknowledged that claim and cut ties with Taiwan — formally, at least.
Yet the U.S. and Taiwan have maintained a robust informal relationship.
And on Tuesday, the representative office that has handled many of those informal affairs got a roughly $256 million upgraded compound in Taiwan's capital, Taipei.
Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing-wen, told the crowd at the dedication ceremony that the building marks "a new chapter in a story that has been decades in the making."
"The friendship between Taiwan and the U.S. has never been more promising," Tsai said.
"The great story of Taiwan-U.S. relations remains to be filled with the efforts of those that will one day occupy this building."

蔡英文 Tsai Ing-wen

✔@iingwen

Today we dedicate the new AIT compound,we also rededicate ourselves to our shared commitment that as free & open democracies, #Taiwan & #US have an obligation to work w/ one another to defend our shared values. I look forward 2 an even brighter chapter in our enduring friendship!

8:03 AM - Jun 12, 2018

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Also in attendance were Rep. Gregg Harper and Marie Royce, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs.
"We may be separated by a great ocean," Royce said in prepared remarks, "but our shared convictions, values, and trust form a strong foundation for cooperation across a range of issues." Chinese authorities made clear they did not share that sense of celebration, however.
Geng Shuang, spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said Tuesday that the US violates the one-China principle.
The "One China" policy Geng references was adopted by the U.S. in 1979.
The policy dictates that the U.S. formally recognize only one Chinese government — the Communist apparatus based in Beijing — and officially eschew relations with a Taiwanese government, which has proclaimed itself the "Republic of China."

Taiwan Scrambles Jets To Track Chinese Bomber Drills

Beijing has been exerting pressure on businesses and countries to officially consider Taiwan part of China — including successful efforts with certain airlines, Burkina Faso and the Dominican Republic, which cut ties with Taiwan earlier this year.
China also has recently pointedly conducted several military drills in the Taiwan strait and around the island.
Meanwhile, the AIT is happily plowing ahead with its big move.
The organization, which was first established in 1979 after the diplomatic shift, plans to officially relocate to the new facility this fall.
And AIT Director Kin Moy, for one, said Tuesday he eagerly welcomes this "testament to this friendship, to the U.S. commitment to Taiwan, and to our staying power in Taiwan."
"I offer you this," he said, "a tangible symbol that the United States is here to stay."

Two Chinas Policy

U.S. unveils de facto embassy in Taiwan

By Jess Macy Yu

The new American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) is seen in Taipei, Taiwan June 2, 2018.

TAIPEI -- The United States unveiled a new $256 million representative office in Taiwan’s capital on Tuesday, a de facto embassy that underscores Washington’s strategic ties with the democratic, self-ruled island.
Washington cut diplomatic ties with Taipei in 1979 but remains the island’s strongest ally and sole foreign arms supplier. 

It opened the American Institute of Taiwan (AIT) to conduct relations between the two sides after severing ties.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said the new complex was a reaffirmation of both sides commitment to a “vital relationship.”
“The friendship between Taiwan and the U.S. has never been more promising. The great story of Taiwan-U.S. relations remains to be filled with the efforts of those that will one day occupy this building,” Tsai said.
So long as both sides stood together, nothing could come between them, she added.
The new complex, a significant upgrade from the low-key military building the AIT had used for decades, will serve as the representative office later this summer, said AIT Director Kin Moy.
Marie Royce, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, said at a ceremony to mark the unveiling that the complex was a symbol of the strength and vibrancy of the U.S.-Taiwan partnership.
“We have faced many trials along this journey, but we have risen to the challenge at every turn, knowing that our shared commitment to democracy would see us through,” said Royce, who is the highest-ranking State Department official to visit Taiwan since 2015.
The sprawling new site occupies 6.5 hectares, including Chinese gardens, in Taipei’s Neihu district. AIT’s Taipei office has nearly 500 American and local employees, while its Kaohsiung branch has more than 30 staff.
The ceremony was attended by scores of high-ranking Taiwan officials as well as senior business executives, including Morris Chang, the former chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), the world’s biggest contract chip maker.
China claims self-ruled Taiwan under its “one China” policy and Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring what it sees as a wayward province under its control.
China’s hostility towards Taiwan has grown since President Tsai was elected in 2016. 

Beijing suspects Tsai wants to push for formal independence, which would cross a red line for Communist Party leaders in Beijing.
Taiwan recently lost two diplomatic allies after they switched ties to China, while some international companies have changed their websites to show the island’s designation as being part of China.
China has also stepped up military drills, sending bombers and jet fighters on exercises near the island that Taipei has denounced as intimidation.
Taiwan has lobbied Washington to sell it more advanced equipment, including new fighter jets, to bolster its defenses.

Why a new office building in Taiwan is heightening U.S.-China tensions

By Richard C. Bush

On the morning of June 12, Taipei time, there will be a ceremony to mark the opening of a new office building in Taiwan’s capital city. 

But it is not just any office building. 

It is the new building of the American Institute in Taiwan. 

With the opening looming, there has been much speculation whether the Trump administration would send of senior official to Taiwan to mark the occasion. 

That idea has also evoked strong opposition from China.
The AIT opening—and even the name American Institute in Taiwan—is entwined in the “one-China policy” of the United States. 

When the Carter administration established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China in 1979, it agreed to terminate diplomatic relations with the government on Taiwan, known as the Republic of China, and to conduct relations with Taiwan on an unofficial basis. Congress created AIT to conduct those unofficial relations. 

Taiwan has its counterpart mechanism in Washington, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office.
Despite the circumlocutions, it’s no secret that AIT’s Taipei Office works for the U.S. government. 

Its personnel are U.S. government officers who temporarily separate from their various agencies (State, Defense, Commerce, etc.) to work in Taiwan. 

In their interactions with Taiwan government agencies, AIT personnel promote U.S. interests and carry out an array of U.S. programs.
Since AIT opened in 1979, the men and women of AIT have worked out of a facility in Taipei that was built in 1950 and used to be the office of the Military Assistance Advisory Group. 

They have long deserved a new building, and now they are getting it. 

For Taiwan, moreover, this new, not inexpensive building signifies a strong and enduring American commitment to the island and its people.
China is not happy with the scope and scale of the U.S. relationship with Taiwan, particularly in the security field. 

If it had its way, it would probably prefer that Washington have a simple trade office in Taipei, as other countries have. 

But one of the interests on which AIT officers labor is maintaining peace and security in the Taiwan Strait, which should be in China’s interest as well.
Beijing also objects to U.S. actions that suggest that its relationship with Taiwan is actually official. So when reports surfaced that the Trump administration might send a Cabinet-level official to Taiwan for the AIT opening, China undertook a campaign to stop that idea in its tracks, claiming that such an action would violate the “one-China principle.”
It happens that successive administrations have interpreted the U.S. one-China policy much more flexibly than the strict fashion in which China defines its one-China principle. 

As long ago as 1992, the George H. W. Bush administration sent Secretary of Commerce Barbara Franklin to visit Taiwan, and later administrations sent people at that level.
Naturally, the Taiwan government and public would appreciate the affirmation that Cabinet-level attendance would represent. 

Just as naturally, the government and the public would be disappointed if a Cabinet-level head does not attend.
China chose the path of confrontation when conciliation was possible.
Yet it is important to view the administration’s decision on this specific issue in light of the poor state of Taiwan-China relations. 

China does not like Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s democratically elected president, because it fears that her Democratic Progressive Party will lead Taiwan down the road of legal independence, thus foreclosing its goal of unifying Taiwan. 

Actually, China’s fears of independence are unfounded. 

President Tsai has repeatedly said that she will maintain the status quo between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. 

Beijing still chose contention over coexistence, and has taken a number of steps to punish Taiwan for electing President Tsai: stealing away the countries with which Taiwan has diplomatic relations, restricting its role in the international community, conducting military exercises near Taiwan, and so on.
To repeat: China chose the path of confrontation when conciliation was possible. 

Going back to the 1950s, U.S. administrations have stressed that the peaceful resolution of differences between China and Taiwan is an “abiding interest” of the United States. 

The Trump administration has reaffirmed that position and made clear that it is China that is currently engaged in destabilizing behavior. 

It should therefore seize opportunities to signal its opposition to China’s punitive tactics. 

Sending a senior U.S. official is one of those opportunities.