The Canadian government would not intervene in a “commercial” decision by Air Canada to list Taiwanese cities as part of China, Canadian Trade Office in Taipei Executive Director Mario Ste-Marie said yesterday, but added that “we are of course opposed to [the] government of China putting pressure on Canadian companies to take a position on the issue.”
Speaking on the sidelines of a news conference about this year’s Canada Day celebrations in Taipei, Ste-Marie told reporters that the airline’s move was “strictly a commercial decision.”
Although Canada adheres to a “one China” policy under which it recognizes the People’s Republic of China as the sole government of China, it takes no stance on China’s views toward Taiwan, Ste-Marie said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
“On the Taiwanese issue, we know their [China’s] claim on Taiwan, but we don’t endorse it or oppose it, we just take note of it,” he said. “We are in favor of maintaining the ‘status quo’ and the best cross-strait relations possible to allow discussions between Taiwan and China.”
The Canadian government opposes Beijing’s pressuring of Canadian private firms to take sides on the issue of Taiwan’s status, Ste-Marie said, adding that it cannot intervene because Air Canada is a private company that answers only to its owners and shareholders.
Air Canada early last month changed its Web site to list flights as bound for “Taipei, CN” rather than “Taipei, Taiwan.”
The decision was made after China’s Civil Aviation Administration in late April sent letters to pressure 36 global airlines to remove references to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as countries on their Web sites and marketing materials.
The move caused an uproar in Taiwan and within the Taiwanese-Canadian community.
A representative of Air Canada in Taiwan told reporters that all Air Canada Taiwan employees hold Taiwanese passports and share the feelings of other Taiwanese about the name change.
However, Air Canada Taiwan country manager Sophia Chen (陳美至) said that instead of focusing on political issues, her team would focus on providing better service to Taiwanese customers in the hope that Air Canada headquarters would place more emphasis on the Taiwanese market.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
RSS