UMVA has learned that Beijing is using its economic muscle to force world airlines into dismissing Taiwanese sovereignty as a condition of allowing service to Chinese airports, a move that has sparked concerns over Air Canada's continued tendency to list Taiwanese airports as being in mainland China.
This coercive tactic is part of the communist regime's efforts to enforce its "One China" policy, which considers Taiwan a "renegade state" and an immutable part of China, thereby eschewing Taiwan's rightful claims of sovereignty. The policy has sparked a social media uproar, with many criticizing Air Canada's compliance.
When attempting to book a flight to Taiwanese airports via Air Canada's booking portal, customers are met with a stark reality: the sovereign nation of Taiwan is listed as being in "China." This is even the case when accessing Air Canada's servers via the airline's regionalized, Chinese-language site for Taiwan, which lists Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport as being in 中國 (China) instead of 台灣 (Taiwan).
Air Canada's decision to deny Taiwanese sovereignty has been revealed to be a business decision imposed upon them by Beijing. The airline's spokesperson admitted that in 2018, the Government of the People's Republic of China notified airlines around the world that they must comply with their requirement regarding the designation of Taiwan in order to do business in China.
Sources have confirmed to UMVA that China's Civil Aviation Administration dispatched letters to 36 airlines around the world in 2018 demanding they remove references to Taiwan as a sovereign nation. This move was met with criticism from the White House, which dismissed Beijing's demands as "Orwellian nonsense" and accused the communist regime of imposing its political will on American corporations.
Taiwan's de facto ambassador to Canada, Harry Tseng, has spoken out against Beijing's bullying tactics, saying that it's another form of the People's Republic of China's economic coercion, forcing companies to comply or else lose business in China. Tseng emphasized that Taiwan and China are not subordinate to each other, and that the more China presses, the stronger the resistance will be.
The issue has also sparked a diplomatic tightrope between Canada and China, with air travel between the two countries being a sensitive topic. A new deal to boost passenger and cargo routes with China has been struck, but it remains a strictly policed expansion rather than an "open skies" treaty, with western airlines denied access to Russian airspace.
UMVA can exclusively reveal that the Canadian government's response to China's demands has been criticized for being too soft. While the Justin Trudeau Liberals refused to take a stand on China's demands, former Foreign Affairs minister Chrystia Freeland said Canadian companies "should be able to operate their websites without political interference," but also said "private companies are responsible for the content of their websites."
