The Republic of China is an independent nation and its efforts to ameliorate relations with other members of the international community will not be affected by Chinese oppression, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said yesterday.
The statement was made in response to the China National Tourism Administration’s request that accommodation companies review their Web sites and apps to change what Beijing deems the inaccurate labeling of Taiwan and other nations that China claims as its territory.
The move is an expansion on efforts by Beijing to police how foreign businesses refer to territories claimed by Beijing on their Web sites.
Photo: AFP
The ministry has asked its missions overseas to contact the companies and express Taiwan’s stern position on the matter and denounce Beijing’s arbitrary acts, Lee said.
The Chinese government on Thursday suspended Marriott International Inc’s Chinese Web site for a week to punish the world’s largest hotel chain for listing Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong and Macau as separate nations on a customer questionnaire.
Activities that challenge China’s “legal red lines” will not be permitted, Xinhua news agency quoted a China tourism administration official as saying.
The administration ordered immediate and thorough checks of Web sites and apps by accommodation companies to ensure that they comply with the law, it said.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China on Friday demanded that Delta Air Lines Inc apologize for listing Taiwan and Tibet as nations on its Web site, while another government agency took aim at Inditex-owned fashion brand Zara and medical device maker Medtronic PLC for similar issues.
Marriott, Delta, Zara and Medtronic have all apologized.
The Chinese aviation authority on Friday ordered all foreign airlines operating routes to China to check their Web sites and apps.
The crackdown was accompanied by an outcry from Chinese neitzens, who assisted with efforts to unearth other infractions.
Shanghai-based newspaper The Paper yesterday reported that it found 24 other foreign airlines with Web sites listing Taiwan, Hong Kong or Macau as nations.
Most were in pull-down menus in registration or comments sections, it said.
“The essence of the problem is the ‘political arrogance’ of foreign companies unafraid to hurt the feelings of people from other countries,” Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily said in an editorial.
Additional reporting by Peng Wan-hsin
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates, four people familiar with the matter said. The new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinationals operating in China to scramble to assess their legal risks and exposure, said the people, who include a lawyer and two executives with direct knowledge of the discussions. “Several companies have come to us to assess the risks to their personnel,” said the lawyer, James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm. He declined to identify