Taiwan-based China Airlines is trying to downplay its connection to mainland China, and that’s coming with some consequences.
In this post:
China Airlines’ (controversial?) new livery
China Airlines has been working on rebranding, and it’s something that Taiwan’s Parliament has even voted in favor of. China Airlines is based in Taipei, and is the “flag” carrier of Taiwan. However, there has long been confusion and controversy surrounding the name. Confusion has been especially common among those who may not be familiar with the nuances of Taiwan vs. mainland China.
Many assume that China Airlines is based in mainland China, when in fact the airline is based in Taiwan (People’s Republic of China vs. Republic of China), which has a very different identity. This has caused frustration, in particular in light of the pandemic.
In 2020, China Airlines took delivery of its first Boeing 777F (freighter aircraft). As part of this, the airline introduced a new livery, which was a subtle way of rebranding. For context, below is what the China Airlines livery used to look like on cargo aircraft.
Then below is what the modified livery looks like.
You’ll notice two major difference:
- “China Airlines” is written in much smaller font toward the back of the plane, rather than prominently toward the front of the plane
- The “C” in “Cargo” is a map of Taiwan, subtle as it may be (I could see some people thinking to themselves that the plane simply has chipped paint)
China Airlines in trouble over new livery
It’s being reported that China Airlines cargo jets with the new livery (featuring a map of Taiwan) are being banned from flying to mainland China. This is obviously creating major issues for a Taiwan-based cargo airline.
Both China Airlines and Taiwan’s government have been trying to figure out how to deal with this. One proposal was to have a subfleet without a map of Taiwan on it that’s used for flights to the mainland, but logistically that was just too complicated. Now the airline has decided to change (and simplify) its livery once again.
The latest Boeing 777F cargo aircraft that China Airlines took delivery of is pretty bare. “CARGO” is no longer written in big letters, and as a result there’s also no map of Taiwan anymore. Rather there’s just “China Airlines” written in small letters toward the back of the aircraft, and then there’s the typical flower on the tail.
Bottom line
China Airlines intended to introduce a new livery to distance itself from mainland China, and instead showcase the company’s pride in Taiwan. This hasn’t been well received by the government of the People’s Republic of China, which has now banned these aircraft from flying to the mainland.
As a result, the airline has had no choice to modify the livery on these planes, to remove the subtle map of Taiwan. I suppose this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise…
What do you make of China forcing China Airlines to change its livery?
(Tip of the hat @RossFeingold)
It's a bit ragebait to say this is absurd - the requirements apply to Chinese carriers as well. Air China maintains a fleet of A330s and A320s that do not have the PRC flag on them specifically for flying to Taiwan. The removal of national symbols for both the PRC and ROC was a condition allowing the restart of cross-straight flights
Mainland China’s government is a fascist and authoritarian regime run by gangsters, and their founder, Mao, is the world’s largest mass murder.
Just read the Tweets by government representatives, and it is something out of 1984.
Taiwan is an independent country, and there is no such thing as “reunification”, people need to stop using that word. Taiwan has not “always been a part of China”, it has never been ruled by the CPC, even for...
Mainland China’s government is a fascist and authoritarian regime run by gangsters, and their founder, Mao, is the world’s largest mass murder.
Just read the Tweets by government representatives, and it is something out of 1984.
Taiwan is an independent country, and there is no such thing as “reunification”, people need to stop using that word. Taiwan has not “always been a part of China”, it has never been ruled by the CPC, even for a day, and note that the Han supremacists fail to ever mention the indigenous Taiwanese.
The free world needs to start supporting Taiwan without hesitation. Thing is the free world has no lack of snakes like India…
Nosa, you don’t know what you are talking about, ROC dropped those claims long ago.
Man, did you ever nail it, especially with India. The French of Asia…
What’s worse is the Communist Party always likes to speak as if they speak for all Chinese people, worldwide. NO. They don’t get to speak for everyone, if anything, they have done irreparable damage to China and Chinese culture.
But if you say a thing against them, they try to get the dummies to say they are hurting “Chinese feelings”.
Stop falling for this and it’s time to separate from the CPC.
CHINA AIRLINES is mostly confused with AIR CHINA. I have worked with the carrier before back in 2017 on an ad campaign, and they had since taken a brand new perspective: exploiting the confusion.
They explained that the change in livery is minor and they rather do that than do what EVA Air has to do and fly around or via Bangkok, making Europe very unprofitable. CI pointed to being able to fly to...
CHINA AIRLINES is mostly confused with AIR CHINA. I have worked with the carrier before back in 2017 on an ad campaign, and they had since taken a brand new perspective: exploiting the confusion.
They explained that the change in livery is minor and they rather do that than do what EVA Air has to do and fly around or via Bangkok, making Europe very unprofitable. CI pointed to being able to fly to all downtown to downtown airports across Asia of which there will be many. Why talk about politics if we can't change it. Let's talk about opportunity.
By the way, it is China Airlines that is killing Cathay Pacific with its better, more successful Chinese culture theming.
Cross straight political thing is way more complicated than people think. PRC claims Taiwan as a province, while ROC still officially claims entire China and even Mongolia as part of its territory. Taiwan independence got more supports in recent years but not all people see it is the correct direction. There are some mutual agreed policies in aviation industry that Air China’s plane to Taipei does not carry the PRC flag, and there is no...
Cross straight political thing is way more complicated than people think. PRC claims Taiwan as a province, while ROC still officially claims entire China and even Mongolia as part of its territory. Taiwan independence got more supports in recent years but not all people see it is the correct direction. There are some mutual agreed policies in aviation industry that Air China’s plane to Taipei does not carry the PRC flag, and there is no Taiwan independence tricks in China Airlines either. Not even mentioning the rebranding. You may think, oh keep on doing that, let’s rebranding! But it may mean company collapse for China Airlines, job lost for employees. Saying is always easier than doing.
> ROC still officially claims entire China and even Mongolia as part of its territory.
That’s because those claims are part of the ROC constitution, and updating the claims to include only the island would be tantamount to declaring independence in the eyes of the PRC government.
Waiting for @Eskimooo to give her usual pro-dictatorship (any dictatorship will do!) justification/apologia/rationalization, complete with abstruse references.
Soooooo predictable........[yawns]
The Taiwanese legislature made CI management promise to do something to make their planes less "Chinese', some actually wanted CI to change its name and take China out of it totally. ROC (Taiwan) government still owns about 1/4 of CI shares through the government owned China Aviation Development Foundation. The cargo logo was quite frankly a sop which satisfied no one. The first time i saw it I couldn't even see the Taiwan geographical outline...
The Taiwanese legislature made CI management promise to do something to make their planes less "Chinese', some actually wanted CI to change its name and take China out of it totally. ROC (Taiwan) government still owns about 1/4 of CI shares through the government owned China Aviation Development Foundation. The cargo logo was quite frankly a sop which satisfied no one. The first time i saw it I couldn't even see the Taiwan geographical outline till someone pointed it out! They should ignore the legislators and keep their branding!
Politics aside, it is confusing for many that China Airlines is a Skyteam partner based in Taipei and Air China is the Beijing based carrier in the Star alliance. Most people inadvertently say the wrong thing or don't realize this.
You may be confused by the livery, but once you fly any Taiwanese airline, you'll realise they are much better than the disgusting and awful ones from the Chinese mainland. There's no comparison!
Mainland China says it can revoke the traffic rights of an airline that is not exactly as per whoever was granted those rights way back when. Of course BA, AF, KL, LH have all rebranded since their initial traffic rights approval so this is just a thin-skinned regime flexing its bully muscles.
This isnt a china thing it's a brand thing.
If they rebrands as Air Canada and put a small map of Taiwan on the plane I bet Air Canada would have issues too, and same goes for any brand that may be mistaken for another.
And hong kong never ceded its independence. The british lease ran out in 1997, that's it.
“ And hong kong never ceded its independence. The british lease ran out in 1997, that's it.” Valid point here. It was only a lease.
Sadly PRC decided they wouldn't honor their agreement with the U.K.
Yes it was a lease, but the people of HK had expectations that their live would be normal. not a prison
Why do people keep trying to do revisionist history? Hong Kong and Kowloon was ceded in perpetuity, not 99 years. It is the new territories and outlying islands that has a ticking clock on them, under the original terms.
Don't think the problem is related to the name of the province. Actually there is a Taiwanese airline call TigerAir 台灣虎航 (the full translation of their name should be "Taiwan" Tiger Air) and they fly to Macau with no issue.
The problem is that "China" airlines uses Taiwan map. An exaggerate comparison might be Cyprus flag uses Larnaca dist. map instead.
@Mike good one, province of Taiwan. Lol.
haha "province". 100% positive ID as another mainland shill. Call it that enough times and it'll become true right?
It's a little funny that PRC, considering Taiwan a province, would be unhappy if China Airlines was renamed Taiwan Airlines. There are already plenty of airlines in China named after provinces/municipalities/SARs.
Sichuan Airlines, Tianjin Airlines, Colorful Guizhou Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Air Macau, Hebei Airlines, Tibet Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Chongqing Airlines, the list goes on and on.
Are they trying to do that? Did you read the article?
Consistently the weirdest thing in cross-Strait relations is that Beijing is far happier with Taipei claiming (or at least not disclaiming) to be the capital of China than they are with Taipei dropping that claim (and implying that Taiwan isn't Chinese).
Yes I read the article you donut. I also read the previous articles which state:
"names like Yushan Airlines, Formosa Airlines, and Taiwan Airlines have been proposed"
https://onemileatatime.com/china-airlines-name-change/
And
"There’s fear that renaming the airline may provoke mainland China, especially if the airline is renamed in a way that specifically includes Taiwan."
https://onemileatatime.com/taiwan-parliament-votes-rename-china-airlines/
Hawaiian Airlines should be banned from the US mainland using the logic of the People's Republic of China. After all, Hawaii is not independent.
Ben/Lucky has a sentence that is confusing..."Many assume that China Airlines is based in mainland China, when in fact the airline is based in Taiwan (People’s Republic of China vs. Republic of China)". It would be better written as "...the airline is based in Taiwan (Republic of China vs. People's...."
Maybe...
Hawaiian Airlines should be banned from the US mainland using the logic of the People's Republic of China. After all, Hawaii is not independent.
Ben/Lucky has a sentence that is confusing..."Many assume that China Airlines is based in mainland China, when in fact the airline is based in Taiwan (People’s Republic of China vs. Republic of China)". It would be better written as "...the airline is based in Taiwan (Republic of China vs. People's...."
Maybe China Airlines should change its name to China Airlines of Formosa. After all, nobody claims that Formosa is a country. However, the People's Republic wouldn't be satisfied.
The US should adopt a constitutional amendment to allow not only states but a shire. It shouldn't be commonwealth because of confusion with the status of Puerto Rico. Taiwan would become the Shire of Taiwan. A shire would be a country in association with the US but not part of the US. The US could pick and choose when Taiwan is not part of the US, when Taiwan is part of the US, and when mainland China is part of the US!
Virginia is a Commonwealth
Pennsylvania...
Massachusetts, as well.
And well Kentucky - they can go
What would China do if China Airlines rebranded itself as:
1) Taiwan Airlines
2) China Airlines of Taiwan
3) Dynasty Airlines (dynasty is an affiliate of China Airlines)
4) Taipei Airlines
hmm.....
The People's Republic of China is the only country in the world OBSESSED with everyone thinking all of the territory it claims belongs to it. Before 1997, for example, Hong Kong's Olympic team was just known as "Hong Kong". After the handover, it's now "Hong Kong, China". Let's not forget how China forced airlines around the world to not list Taiwan as a separate country from China in their Countries/Region pages. No other country that...
The People's Republic of China is the only country in the world OBSESSED with everyone thinking all of the territory it claims belongs to it. Before 1997, for example, Hong Kong's Olympic team was just known as "Hong Kong". After the handover, it's now "Hong Kong, China". Let's not forget how China forced airlines around the world to not list Taiwan as a separate country from China in their Countries/Region pages. No other country that administers territories does that. You don't see "Aruba, Netherlands", "Cook Islands, New Zealand", "Puerto Rico, U.S.A." or "Cayman Islands, Britain".
Simple answer. They are the epitome of LDE.
For the ignorant amongst us…What is LDE?
little dick energy
Absolutetly dictatorial! Taiwan should learn from HKG's mistakes. Never ever surrender your sovereignity, your freedom and your rights! There are other great livery. But more important, the World knows which China is the real democratic country.
Remind me, when did Hong Kong surrender its sovereignity?
haha joe probably never reads a history book or any book for that matter other than book of freedom and book of rights.
The insecurities of a dictatorial regime.
Exactly
Air China (the one from mainland China) actually does have a subfleet with a modified livery that operate flights to Taiwan. If you look for photos of Air China planes at Taipei, you'll see they all lack the PRC flag next to the Air China titles, unlike the rest of the fleet.
This seems like an idiosyncratic concern until one realizes that roughly half the people in Taiwan also continue to believe that it is part of a single China, and are only slightly less obsessed with continuing that illusion than the PRC.
It’s still an idiosyncratic and concern.
I guess you havent talked to anyone from taiwan. The significant majority identify as taiwanese, and do not want to unify with China.
Half would be an exaggeration. Look at the stats:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_on_Taiwanese_identity
https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/05/12/in-taiwan-views-of-mainland-china-mostly-negative/
It'd be more accurate to say that roughly half support closer ties with China for various economic, social and cultural reasons. Importantly, balancing the needle would mean limiting the risk of war.
Meanwhile people jumping to their deaths in Shanghai and beginning to starve all in the name of "Zero Covid"
And I was just now reading this pro "zero covid" article that says, "Practice has repeatedly shown that the key to winning the battle against the epidemic is to adhere to the general dynamic zero-COVID policy without hesitation". Regarding western countries which started "living with the virus" because of risk on vulnerable people it says "This is a cruel social Darwinism".........So nothing cruel about starving Shanghai residents who will be beaten up if tries to...
And I was just now reading this pro "zero covid" article that says, "Practice has repeatedly shown that the key to winning the battle against the epidemic is to adhere to the general dynamic zero-COVID policy without hesitation". Regarding western countries which started "living with the virus" because of risk on vulnerable people it says "This is a cruel social Darwinism".........So nothing cruel about starving Shanghai residents who will be beaten up if tries to forage for some food!
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202204/1258972.shtml
Shanghai is becoming Xinjiang in 3, 2, ...
This is politics pure and simple! If gov of Taiwan wants to distinguish China Airlines from China, go on and launch a Taiwan Airline and see if big bad China would allow Taiwan Airline entering Chinese airspace. The answer is obvious which is the reason politicians employing tricks like a bunch of five year olds and trying to skirt the bottom line.
According to the state department website:” In the Joint Communique, the United States recognized the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China, acknowledging the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China. ”
You do know that that is political legalese right? “Recognize” does not mean support. It’s meant to be ambiguous. It just means the US does not overtly disagree with China’s claims over Taiwan.
You're both just a bit off -- to be precise, the United States acknowledges the PRC position that Taiwan is a part of China, but it does not recognize that claim. The U.S. takes no position on Taiwanese sovereignty. However, the U.S. does recognize that there is only one China.
This is China, petty to the bones.
Really? Western country is even more petty. Banning communism (it is illegal) while claiming for freedom for thought.
Or how about blue laws? Not able to sell car or alcohol on Sunday? If it’s not pettiest thing, I don’t know what is.
In what Western country is (1) communism illegal, and (2) has nationwide blue laws?
Where exactly is communism explicitly “illegal”? I’ll wait.
You compare not buying alcohol to a dictatorship? I’d love to see the IQ test for you.