Lawmakers on Monday criticized the Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport hotel for listing the nation as “Taiwan, China” on its Web site for online reservations, despite being of a subsidiary of state-run China Airlines Ltd.
The transit hotel suspended operations after being fined NT$1.26 million (US$45,029) by the Taoyuan Department of Public Health on May 10 for contravening the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法) after the hotel was linked to a cluster of COVID-19 infections.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Mark Ho (何志偉) said the hotel has crossed the line by listing Taiwan as part of China.
Photo: CNA
China Airlines should check its other subsidiaries to see whether similar practices exist, he said.
“The hotel has sparked a public outrage for causing a cluster infection of COVID-19. Now it has downgraded Taiwan to a province of China. It should make a correction right away,” he said.
Lo Cheng-chung (羅承宗), director of the Institute of Financial and Economic Law at the Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, said the Ministry of Education has warned university lecturers against using the phrase “Taiwan, China” when giving presentations at seminars and in academic journals.
“However, the hotel, which the Ministry of Transportation and Communications oversees, refers to Taiwan as part of China. This is outrageous,” Lo said.
In April last year, China Airlines delivered 10 million masks to European countries, he said.
“While the packaging on the masks highlighted the message that ‘Taiwan can help,’ it also had the name of the airline, China Airlines, on it. As such, the masks, which were meant to show goodwill from Taiwan, were mistaken as gifts from China,” Lo said.
“Now the transit hotel refers to Taiwan as part of China, which would make foreigners think they are in China,” Lo said, adding that most foreigners already have trouble distinguishing between the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China.
This month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged a strong protest against the WHO for referring to Taiwan as “Taiwan, China.”
“As the most important international health organization, the WHO should not succumb to pressure from the People’s Republic of China and violate the principle of neutrality in this political issue,” the ministry said.
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