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More U.S. senators criticize China's bullying of airlines

ROC Central News Agency

2018/07/27 18:03:30

Washington, July 26 (CNA) A dozen more United States senators criticized on Thursday Beijing's demand that 44 international airlines label Taiwan as part of China on their websites and warned that there were more offensives to come.

Following other international airlines, three leading American carriers -- American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines -- succumbed to China's request on Tuesday ahead of the July 25 deadline by leaving only "Taipei" and "TPE" in airport destinations and removing "Taiwan."

Senate majority whip John Cornyn warned that "this bullying of the airlines is really just one small piece of a much larger puzzle, and one that we need to continue to be vigilant about," Cornyn said in a tweet.

Chris Coons, a member of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, also expressed his opposition to Beijing's move.

"I object to China's attempt to intimidate companies and wash away Taiwan's existence as a democracy committed to human rights and the rule of law. I stand with the State Department and my Congressional colleagues in supporting Taiwan's correct designation on websites," he said on Twitter.

Washington Post columnist and CNN analyst Josh Rogin also warned that the U.S. should be prepared for more to come from China.

"The United States lost an important early skirmish this week over whether American companies must comply with the Chinese government's political demands," he wrote.

"But the greater conflict is just beginning, which means the Trump administration must now prepare to help U.S. corporations fight Chinese coercion in future rounds."

He said airline representatives told him that the U.S. government did not offer any tangible protection in the recent dispute and even endorsed the compromise of simply eliminating "Taiwan" in its listing of cities and airports.

But the half-concession seems to have only emboldened Beijing, Rogin wrote, because China's civil aviation authority called the U.S. airlines' actions incomplete and demanded total capitulation.

Chinese officials are threatening to damage the airlines' business in China, in violation of international trade laws, he said.

"The reality is American corporations can't be expected to be guided by purely moral considerations. And the U.S. government can't tell American companies what to do. That's an asymmetric advantage for Beijing," he wrote.

He suggested that if U.S. airlines and the U.S. government could work together, it would be a model for other industries facing Chinese pressure.

"Beijing wants to divide and conquer. By uniting, setting clear principles and coordinating responses, foreign firms have greater power to fight back," he said.

(By Chiang Chin-yeh and Flor Wang)
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