Qantas has been notified to remove any references to Taiwan as an independent country from its website.
According to the Sydney Morning Frontier, Qantas now faces the problem that its website will soon be blocked unless it meets the requirements. This marks the accelerated pace of China`s efforts to ensure that foreign companies are in line with the one-China policy.
(Civil Aviation Administration), China`s civil aviation regulator, wrote to Qantas last month asking it to delete any public information indicating that Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau belong to different countries from mainland China. A Qantas spokesman confirmed that the company had received a letter from CAAC and would "respond in due course".
American Airlines (American Airlines) and United Airlines (United) have received a similar letter warning that their websites in China could be blocked, according to the foreign policy magazine (Foreign Policy).
In January, Marriott International`s Chinese website was shut down for a week after Marriott International listed TW, Tiibet, Hong Kong and Macau as independent countries in an online survey sent to guests.
(photo source: Web)
As early as January, the Civil Aviation Administration asked all foreign airlines flying to China to check their names for Taiwan. Qantas said at the time it was correcting the "negligent mistake" because the site listed some Chinese territory as a state.
Qantas has multiple routes to China, which is expected to become the world`s largest aviation market by 2022.
This week, Qantas and its low-cost subsidiary, Jetstar (Jetstar) `s reservation system, still included Taipei as part of Taiwan, not China. Qantas also continues to call Hong Kong a "Hong Kong Special Administrative region", which distinguishes itself from other Chinese cities.
A spokeswoman for Virgin Australia company (Virgin) said Virgin had not received any letters. "We call all places of arrival a destination to ensure that we comply with China`s laws and regulations," a spokeswoman for Virgin Australia said. Virgin`s 40 percent stake is owned by China Aviation Group HNA (HNA) and Nanshan Group (Nanshan).
