In an effort to strike back against China’s growing pressure on global companies to toe Beijing’s “one China” line, a bipartisan group of eight US senators on Friday wrote to two US airlines that have received such threats, pledging their willingness to defend the companies’ integrity.
The senators’ letters were sent to the CEOs of American Airlines and United Airlines, following a similar letter by US Representative Ted Yoho on Thursday last week.
The Chinese Civil Aviation Administration late last month demanded that the two airlines, along with several other international carriers, list Taiwan as “Taiwan, China” or “the Taiwan Region, China” — a demand that the White House has called “Orwellian nonsense.”
Photo: Reuters
“The Chinese government and [the Chinese] Communist Party are aggressively seeking to marginalize and isolate Taiwan, a democracy and important partner to the US in the Indo-Pacific region, by bullying American companies and foreign countries to sever official ties with Taiwan,” said the group led by US senators Marco Rubio and Bob Menendez, cochair of the Senate Taiwan Caucus.
Expressing regret that several companies — some of which are household names — have bent to pressure and threats from the Chinese government, the group said US lawmakers are gravely concerned about Beijing’s “long arm” and its efforts to leverage the size of the Chinese market to pressure corporations to toe its political line.
“As you weigh your response options, you should know that your government stands with you,” the letters said, adding that the US government would strongly oppose attempts by China or any other foreign government to unilaterally dictate terms to a US company.
The group also reminded the airlines that Taiwan enjoys strong support not only from the White House, but also in the US Congress.
As of press time last night, neither airline had succumbed to Chinese pressure and threats of punishment, with United Airlines and American Airlines listing Taiwan as “TW” and “Taiwan” respectively on their Web sites.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday issued a news release expressing its gratitude for the US senators’ support.
“We again urge the international community to confront Beijing’s ill intention to interfere with international corporations’ operations and the content of their Web sites, as well as Taiwan’s diplomatic situation, which has grown even more dire due to Beijing’s growing suppression,” the ministry said.
The ministry said it would continue to join hands with other like-minded nations to defend Taiwan’s freedom and democracy and to expand its international space.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
RSS