Finnair is among the 20 airlines to officially change the description of Taiwan to being a part of China.
This happened after Beijing issued a demand to 36 airlines that Taiwan from here-on out would be referred to as a Chinese region and not a state in the republic.
And 20 airlines gave in, including Finnair, where Taiwan now is listed as a region in China.
And in the previous months, the political top of China has demanded a change in the rhetoric when talking about Taiwan. Recently stories emerged of the Swedish Tax Agency officially labeling Taiwan as “Taiwan, Province of China” as opposed to the earlier classification as a part of the republic but not a province, something the Taiwanese ministry spokesman Andrew Lee called “unacceptable”:
“[This is] unacceptable to the government and people of Taiwan,” he said and added that the original name should be restored immediately to “safeguard the national dignity and rights of the Taiwanese people,” according to Taiwan News.
Taiwan has been somewhat independent since 1949, where nationalists sought refuge on the island from the expanding communist regime. Since then it has been the subject of diplomatic conflicts between communist China and the capitalist West, often seen as a major stronghold against the expanding communism.
