Dubai-based Emirates Airline yesterday retracted a controversial directive asking Taiwanese cabin crew to remove their “Taiwanese flag pins” and replace them with Chinese flag pins in accordance with its “one China” policy.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said its Dubai representative office has lodged a protest with the airline, which said it gave the order under pressure from Beijing.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said it first expressed its concern to Emirates’ office in Taipei upon learning of the incident on Tuesday, and asked the airline’s representatives in Taiwan to come to its office yesterday morning to explain the situation.
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“To preserve our national dignity, we have expressed our concern over this matter and stated that asking Taiwanese flight attendants to wear Chinese flag pins is extremely inappropriate. Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates have maintained good relations for many years, and people in both countries have also interacted with one another frequently. The airline should avoid enforcing measures that would hurt the feelings of Taiwanese flight attendants and Taiwanese. We have also asked the company to properly deal with this matter,” the agency said, adding that it would continue to monitor the situation.
The CAA said Emirates had promised to relay the agency’s concern to its headquarters in Dubai.
Emirates issued a statement yesterday, saying that the e-mail was “sent in error and has since been retracted.”
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“Our intent is to recall the flag pins worn by all our cabin crew as part of our uniform update. All cabin crew are no longer required to wear a flag pin as part of their uniform. Emirates apologizes for the communication error,” it said.
The e-mail, sent on Tuesday morning by the company’s Uniform Standards and Development Manager Nicola Parker, said that the company was “instructed by the Chinese Government that with immediate effect, Emirates airline cabin crew are to follow the One China policy.”
All Taiwanese crew must follow the directive without exception, the e-mail said, adding that additional stock of Chinese flag pins have been ordered and are expected to arrive in the coming weeks.
Following multiple complaints from the company’s Taiwanese cabin crew, Parker then sent another e-mail, saying the request to wear a Chinese flag was “incorrect and inappropriate.”
“Please refrain from wearing your Taiwanese flags on flights until further notice. Therefore no flag is required on your uniform,” the e-mail said.
The company’s apology did not seem to appease Taiwanese netizens, with hundreds of them posting images or photos of Taiwan’s national flag on Emirates’ Facebook page in protest against the move.
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