Air Canada’s kowtowing to China’s despots sends a dangerous signal

Democracy, liberty and freedom should be areas of no-compromise in our negotiations with Chinese dictators. 

By J. MICHAEL COLE

In the months since China began to bring pressure on international airlines to remove all references from their websites, apps and booking services to Taiwan as anything other than part of China, I, along with many other Canadians living in Asia, had taken great pride in the fact that Air Canada had refused to be cowed by the authoritarian giant.
Sadly, that is no more. 

Joining a growing list of airlines including Qantas, Delta, British Airways and Lufthansa, Air Canada now uses a designation – “Taipei, CN” – that does not reflect reality, but can only please the leadership in Beijing, which refuses to acknowledge the existence of Taiwan as a sovereign entity.
Despite only having 19 official diplomatic allies, Taiwan −a vibrant democracy of 23.5 million people that shares many of the values we as Canadian cherish − entertains constructive ties with many countries around the world. 

An important economic partner of Canada, Taiwan is also home to as many as 60,000 Canadians. Taiwan has its own passport, its own elected government, military, currency and enjoys many advantages, such as visa-free entry, the Chinese people are denied.
China, meanwhile, has shed constitutional limits to the presidency, and in recent years has done much to undo a lot of the limited progress it had made in the past two decades or so – some of that with Canadian assistance – in terms of civil liberties. 

Freedom of expression, of belief, have been eroded; repression in East Turkestan has reached levels which border on conditions in a prison camp; activists, lawyers, academics, in and outside China, have been threatened, denied visas and taken to court merely for exposing the transgressions of a regime that brooks no criticism. 

Under Xi Jinping, China has become worryingly aggressive in its territorial claims, going as far as to militarize the South China Sea, and is now seen as a threat to several smaller countries in the region. Under Xi’s guidance, China has also launched a series of initiatives, known as “sharp power”, to undermine democracies worldwide.
Beijing has also exploited Ottawa’s desire to sign a free-trade agreement with the world’s second-largest economy, to compel it to look the other way whenever it has violated the beliefs and values that define us as Canadians.
For Taiwan, Ottawa has been a solid partner, supporting Taipei’s efforts to join multilateral institutions such as the International Civil Aviation Organization and the World Health Assembly, which Beijing has prevented for political reasons. 

This Ottawa does because it understands the values of inclusion. 

And even though it “took note” of Beijing’s claims that Taiwan is part of China upon establishing diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China in October, 1970, Ottawa’s multifaceted engagement of Taiwan is guided by the recognition of its value as a distinct polity and partner.
We may be critical of Donald Trump’s White House for many things, but it spoke for many of us earlier this month when it referred to Beijing’s pressure on international airlines as “Orwellian nonsense”.
Understandably, Justin Trudeau’s government looks to China as an important economic partner to ensure our own prosperity, but we cannot afford to compromise the values, beliefs and traditions that make us who we are in the process. 

Canadian companies need not give in to bullying and blackmail for access to the Chinese market. Instead, we need to make it clear that this is a relationship of equals, one in which we have our own red lines.
Democracy, liberty and freedom should be areas of no-compromise in our negotiations with Chinese authorities. 

When we yield to Beijing’s preposterous demands, the way Air Canada did on how it refers to Taiwan, we display our weakness and our willingness to compromise what we believe in. 

A revisionist regime that seeks to undermine and alter the international system can only see such weakness as an invitation to demand more – and in doing so, we sow the seeds of our own misfortune.
I speak for many Canadians today in feeling ashamed for the decision by Air Canada, a company we can be proud of, to give in to Beijing’s coercion. 

Surely we can do better than this.

Chinese Paranoia

White House calls China’s threats to airlines ‘Orwellian nonsense’
By Josh Rogin 

In the long strategic struggle between the United States and China, one key issue is whether the Chinese Communist Party will be able to force Americans to do what it says, especially American companies. 

Now, the Chinese government is threatening to impose a version of its “social credit score” system on international airlines, with steep punishments unless they acquiesce to Beijing’s political demands. 

The Trump administration has decided to tell China that that is not going to fly.
On April 25, the Chinese government sent dozens of international airlines a written threat of severe punishments if they don’t change their websites to declare that Taiwan is part of China, among other things. I have obtained a copy of the letter. 

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is set to release a press statement calling the Chinese government’s threats “political correctness” run amok.
“This is Orwellian nonsense and part of a growing trend by the Chinese Communist Party to impose its political views on American citizens and private companies,” the statement reads. 

“China’s internal Internet repression is world-famous. China’s efforts to export its censorship and political correctness to Americans and the rest of the free world will be resisted.”
The White House statement is the strongest U.S. government rebuke to date of China’s increased pressure on foreign companies to toe the Chinese Communist Party line. 

In recent months, Marriott Hotels and Mercedes-Benz both folded to Chinese government pressure and removed online content related to Tibet. 

Marriott even fired an American worker for “liking” a tweet by a pro-Tibet group.
The letter from China’s Civil Aviation Administration says that on Feb. 27, the Chinese government asked each airline to investigate its websites and remove any references to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau that “mistakenly describe them as countries or anything otherwise inconsistent with Chinese law.”
The version of the letter I obtained was addressed to United Airlines and said the Chinese government found “there still exists violations of Chinese laws and contradictions to the one China policy of your government.” 

The Chinese government demanded United change its website so that “Taiwan shall be called ‘Chinese Taiwan’ or ‘Taiwan: province/region of China.’”
Taiwan must be included in any map of China on its website and United must use the same color on the website for mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, the letter stated. 

Taiwan cannot be listed as a country alongside China. 

Taiwan destinations must not be classified as being in Southeast Asia but must be put in the same category as China on the website.
If United doesn’t comply by May 25, the Chinese government will invoke “Civil Aviation Industry Credit Management Trial Measures” and “make a record of your company’s serious dishonesty and take disciplinary actions against your company,” the letter states. 

The Civil Aviation Administration will also “transfer your company’s violation of Chinese laws to the National Cyber Information Office and other law enforcement agencies to take administrative penalties according to law.”
That reference to “Civil Industry Credit Management” is citing a trial regulation on credit scoring in the aviation industry, and the letter claims United’s labeling of Taiwan is equal to “serious dishonesty” under that regulation, said Samantha Hoffman, visiting fellow at the Mercator Institute for China Studies.
“China’s domestic law, in this case on civil aviation credit and cybersecurity, allow China to extend something like ‘social credit’ beyond its own borders,” she said. 

“It demonstrates why any interpretation of the social credit system must be placed in the context of China’s definitions of state security. And state security is about protecting the Chinese Communist Party above all else.”
Moreover, the Chinese letter mischaracterizes U.S. government policy by saying “the one-China policy of your government.” 

The United States does not have a one-China policy. 

Washington acknowledges Beijing’s position that there is one China that includes Taiwan and the United States takes no stance on that question. 

The U.S. government is not going to agree that Taiwan is part of the People’s Republic of China, and neither should American companies.
The White House statement defends the principle that American private companies must have freedom in their interactions with their customers and not be pressured into taking the political positions of an authoritarian foreign power.
“The United States strongly objects to China’s attempts to compel private firms to use specific language of a political nature in their publicly available content,” the White House statement says. 

“We call on China to stop threatening and coercing American carriers and citizens.”
This is one more example of the Trump’s administration’s continuing shift toward a more assertive stance, said Peter Mattis, a former U.S. intelligence analyst on China. 

But American businesses have yet to stand up to Chinese pressure and interference. 

United declined to comment. 

Delta Air Lines and British Airways have already partially succumbed to the Chinese demands.
“The danger is less the squeeze on Taiwan and more the clear proof that China’s social management system will be used to condition companies and people outside China to align behind the party’s positions,” said Mattis. 

“The cost of doing business has been raised.”
The Chinese Communist Party can be forgiven for believing it can use a version of its social credit system on American companies. 

Nobody has pushed back on this so far. 

The White House is pledging to start doing that now. 

It’s a recognition that, as a White House official told me, “China is out of control.”