BANGKOK, 8 May 2018: Indonesia’s national airline, Garuda Indonesia, is in hot water for describing Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport as part of China.
This time the Taiwanese government is up in arms demanding the airline make a correction.
Usually, pressure is exerted by Beijing, which takes airlines to task for failing to identify China in their descriptions of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Beijing wants all references to the three territories to identify that they are part of China.
In the case of Garuda, the gaffe was in reverse. This time round the Taiwan government was the one chiding Garuda Indonesia for identifying the country’s gateway airport as “Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport, China.”
It implied Taiwan’s airport was part of China and was probably a business decision by Garuda to please the Chinese to increase services and attract more travel.
According to Taiwan News, a daily English newspaper, Taiwan’s envoy to Indonesia requested an explanation and an immediate correction from the airline.
It is understood that the name change was probably due to pressure from China; however, there has been no reply from the airline’s management.
Last month, China sent a letter to 36 foreign airlines, ordering them to avoid listing Taiwan as a country.
Airlines such as Qantas complied with the request.
Pacific Asia Travel Association dealt with the two China issues some years back. Taiwan lost its status as one of founding government members of the association and was listed under its visitor bureau rather than under the government category.
In the PATA directory blurb it describes the member from Taiwan as: “The Taiwan Visitors Association, a non-profit organisation, promoting tourism for the Republic of China through both domestic and international activities.”
PATA has 88 government members and China has emerged as the most supportive in hosting events and has considerable clout, but the association has managed to juggle the two China issues quite expertly limiting friction and demands.
