Qantas reprimanded by China for referring to Taiwan, Hong Kong as countries

In what has, over recent years, become a very sensitive topic, the Chinese government has issued a warning Qantas requesting the carrier amend its website listing of Taiwan and Hong Kong as individual countries, as opposed to Chinese territories. In an emailed statement, Qantas confirmed: “Due to an oversight, some Chinese territories were incorrectly listed as countries on parts of our website. We are correcting this error.”
Although China’s civil aviation authority has demanded foreign airlines check their websites and make appropriate changes, the country’s campaign for territorial recognition goes well beyond airlines. Only last week, Marriott International’s Chinese website was suspended for a week to punish the world’s biggest hotel chain for listing Tibet, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as separate countries in a customer questionnaire. Qantas is the first Australian company to acknowledge this new level of Chinese vigilance, and many other Australian companies are likely to follow suit as China is Australia’s biggest trading partner, having last year alone purchased US$74 billion in products and services.
The most sensitive issue surrounds Taiwan, which despite China’s might, still sees itself as a self-ruled democratic island and a wayward province. Currently it refuses to cow tow to Chinese threats of force to bring it back into the fold, to the point where it has contacted its own companies to ensure they adhere to strict Taiwanese policy on the matter.
“We are closely watching the following developments,” said foreign ministry spokesman Andrew H.C. Lee, adding: “Of course, with the fact that Taiwan is a sovereign, independent country, there won’t be any change to this as a result of China’s unilateral way of handling things.”