Letters: Google contradicts itself

Steve Wang's letter (Letters) Oct. 10, page 8) contains the statement "Google has correctly listed Taiwan as a province of China because Google is a US corporation and the status of Taiwan to the US is that Taiwan is a part of China, as defined by the Shanghai Communique and the Taiwan Relations Act, the second which was agreed to and signed by the US Congress."

The Taiwan Relations Act contains not a single instance of "Taiwan, Province of China." Additionally, the 1979 Act does not define the status of Taiwan from the US' point of view, nor does it have a statement that "Taiwan is part of China."

In the Shanghai Communique, the US acknowledges the PRC's position that Taiwan is part of China, but it does not necessarily recognize this position. The US further emphasized this when it established diplomatic relations with the PRC in 1979. Products made in Taiwan that appear in the US are not labeled "Taiwan, Province of China." At the airport, US Customs and Immigration officials never ask people from Taiwan if they are from "Taiwan, Province of China." The average American Joe or Jane never says "So you're from Taiwan, Province of China, eh?" The American Institute in Taiwan is not called "The American Institute in Taiwan, Province of China."

While the ISO 3166 directory of names of countries and territories has the TW code as Taiwan, Province of China, most major commercial Web sites such as Amazon.com, Nytimes.com, and Barnesandnoble.com took the time to remove the "Province of China" reference in their country and territory address forms, rather than to blindly use the ISO 3166 standard. No doubt these are US-based corporations.

While it is disturbingly true that Swiss residency permits say that people from Taiwan are people from "Chinese Taipei," and while it is absurdly true that airport timetable Web sites such as the OAG airport flightfinder site list Taipei and Kaohsiung as cities of "Chinese Taipei," international news agencies remove "Chinese Taipei" references from press releases of international organizations and simply refer to the ROC as "Taiwan."

Quite frankly, Google has contradicted itself. If one goes to its Taiwan-based Web site www.google.com.tw and click on "Google.com in English," one ends up on the English Google page with a link to "Go to Google Taiwan."

Freud made the comment that a cigar is just a cigar. But certain corporations and entities are willing to coddle this authoritarian government by submitting to its whims.

Perhaps Wang could do a subtle rather than superficial study of history next time.

Allen Timothy Chang
Taipei