by WorldTribune Staff, May 6, 2018
The White House blasted demands by China that U.S. airlines must change references to Taiwan on their websites to indicate Taiwan is part of China.
President Donald Trump “ran against political correctness in the United States” and as president he will “stand up for Americans resisting efforts by the Chinese Communist Party to impose Chinese political correctness on American companies and citizens,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
“This is Orwellian nonsense and part of a growing trend by the Chinese Communist Party to impose its political views on American citizens and private companies,” the statement reads. “China’s internal Internet repression is world-famous. China’s efforts to export its censorship and political correctness to Americans and the rest of the free world will be resisted.”
The White House says China’s Civil Aviation Administration is demanding the change from 36 foreign carriers, including some American carriers.
The Chinese government threatened international airlines with punishment if they don’t change their websites to indicate that Taiwan is part of China.
In February, China’s Civil Aviation Administration asked the airlines to remove references to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau from their websites that “mistakenly describe them as countries or anything otherwise inconsistent with Chinese law.”
In a letter to United Airlines, the Chinese government demanded the changes be made by May 25 or threatened to invoke “Civil Aviation Industry Credit Management Trial Measures” and “make a record of your company’s serious dishonesty and take disciplinary actions against your company.” The Civil Aviation Administration in the letter said it would also “transfer your company’s violation of Chinese laws to the National Cyber Information Office and other law enforcement agencies to take administrative penalties according to law.”
The White House statement said that “The United States strongly objects to China’s attempts to compel private firms to use specific language of a political nature in their publicly available content. We call on China to stop threatening and coercing American carriers and citizens.”
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