Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways has made headlines in Taiwan, after it was revealed that one of the carrier’s inflight announcements referred to Taiwan as part of China. This caused a bit of a diplomatic spat, and the airline was forced to apologize, though let’s see how China feels about this…
In this post:
Etihad enrages passengers with “Taiwan, China” announcement
A social media post of a traveler from Taiwan recently went viral, after they took an Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi (AUH) to Taipei (TPE). While the English arrival announcement said “welcome back to Taiwan,” the Mandarin version reportedly said “welcome back to Taiwan, China.” The announcement in Mandarin also said “passengers who bring meat products into the country will be fined by the Chinese government.”
The passenger confronted the flight attendant about the announcement, and it was confirmed that the script was read word-for-word, meaning it wasn’t just someone putting their spin on things, but instead, the official company announcement.
Many in Taiwan viewed this as a huge sign of disrespect, so this actually escalated quite a bit. Taiwan’s Deputy Spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry said the following in response to this:
“The Republic of China is a sovereign and independent country, and neither it nor the People’s Republic of China is subordinate to the other. This is an objective fact and the internationally recognized status quo. Any improper practice that demeans our national sovereignty and status will never be accepted by the government or the people of Taiwan.”
Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration said Etihad has apologized for the announcement, and immediately updated the wording. The airline also said it would review its Taiwan related announcements and passenger service documents, to prevent further misunderstanding.
This is an area where travel brands just can’t win
People will have their own strong opinions in the China vs. Taiwan debate, and I certainly don’t think we’re going to achieve world peace in the comments section here, by simply yelling at one another over our differences. 😉
However, one thing that has to be acknowledged is how travel brands really can’t win when it comes to how they refer to Taiwan. If they refer to Taiwan as part of China, they enrage Taiwan. If they don’t refer to Taiwan as part of China, they enrage China.
Some may remember that back in 2018, China blocked Marriott’s website in the country for an entire week, because the hotel brand sent out a member survey where it listed Taiwan as a separate country, which China viewed as disrespecting Chinese sovereignty.
In response to that, Marriott released a statement saying that it “respects Chinese sovereignty and its territorial integrity,” and it wanted to “sincerely apologize for any actions that led to misunderstanding on the aforementioned stance.”
So when you go to Marriott’s website now, you’ll see that Taiwan is referred to as being part of China. This is now common among all hotel groups, since they didn’t want to end up with a similar punishment.
So yeah, make of it what you will, but travel brands can’t win, and they will infuriate one group or the other. One wonders if China will now lash out at Etihad, forcing the airline to change the announcements again, due to “disrespecting Chinese sovereignty.”
I should acknowledge that both Mainland China and Taiwan consider themselves to be China, at least officially — one is the Republic of China (ROC), and the other is the People’s Republic of China (PRC). But when a company refers to a place as Taiwan, China, it’s assumed that they’re suggesting that Taiwan is part of the latter rather than part of the former, especially with the Taiwanese government increasingly distancing itself from the “China” name.
Bottom line
Etihad Airways passengers flying to Taiwan were outraged when they discovered that the carrier’s announcement referred to Taiwan as part of China. This caused a diplomatic spat, with the Taiwanese government demanding immediate change. The airline did in fact apologize, and promised to update announcements.
The challenge for travel brands is that if you’re “respecting the sovereignty” of Taiwan, you’re not “respecting the sovereignty” of China, so you really can’t win.
What do you make of this Etihad diplomatic spat?
The way I see it, the Taiwanese are entitled to their own country. If they want to be called Taiwan, have an independent government and their own laws, who is a foreign nation to tell them they actually belong to them. These brands all know it's unethical, but the money's too good to pass up and that's exactly why they have to be shamed.
If only it were that simple!
Would be interesting to see a comment from a native mandarin speaker who has actually heard the announcement. Mentioning the risk of being fined by the "Chinese" government when landing in a country with official name of Republic of China looks perfectly normal to me. Their flag carrier is China Air, not Taiwan Air.
I talked to a friend who was born and raised in Taiwan. She says that in Mandarin when they talk about their government the words they use would translate to "Republic of China government". So unless the announcement specifically mentioned "People's Republic of China", I don't see a problem. If they said "Republic of China", that was the official name of the country. If they just said "China", it's ambiguous but not wrong.
I can't imagine giving a about any of this. China will whine about this at every opportunity. ignore it.
Which China? /s
From experience it's statistically skewed to one side.
Whether it's China, gender, or race cards.
We're trying to equally be snowflakes in an unequal world.
Companies should face sanctions in the US if they refer to taiwan as china, cos it clearly isnt.
ROC
Republic of CHINA
????
New YORK
You don't call that state as YORK or think it's fine to call it YORK.
Welcome to JFK airport, YORK?
Better yet. Albuquerque, MEXICO?
Well because there is MEXICO in New MEXICO.
Just like calling ROC as China
Ummm but PRC is people’s republic of China. ROC is republic of China. Hence both are China!
Ummm but NYC is New York City. COY is City of York. Hence both are York!
Your York analogy still doesn’t work. Nobody calls York “COY” — it’s just York. And nobody calls New York simply “York” or Albuquerque “Mexico,” because those places aren’t York or Mexico.
The PRC and ROC are fundamentally different from that analogy: “People’s Republic” and “Republic” are qualifiers placed before the exact same word: China. The names are literally People’s Republic of China and Republic of China.
So here’s the question your argument doesn’t answer: why...
Your York analogy still doesn’t work. Nobody calls York “COY” — it’s just York. And nobody calls New York simply “York” or Albuquerque “Mexico,” because those places aren’t York or Mexico.
The PRC and ROC are fundamentally different from that analogy: “People’s Republic” and “Republic” are qualifiers placed before the exact same word: China. The names are literally People’s Republic of China and Republic of China.
So here’s the question your argument doesn’t answer: why is it acceptable to use “China” as shorthand for the PRC while insisting that the ROC cannot also be called China? If “China” is supposedly exclusive to the PRC, why does the PRC get to drop “People’s Republic of” while the ROC is expected to keep “Republic of” every time?
You can’t just declare that the qualifier makes one “China” while the other somehow isn’t. Both names contain China. The distinction between them comes from the words before China — PRC and ROC — not from one magically owning the word “China.”
And the ROC is literally the Republic of China. Historically, the ROC government regarded itself as the legitimate government of China, and that identity is still reflected in Taiwan’s own institutions today.
Look at Taiwan’s own names:
• China Airlines — Taiwan’s airline, not the PRC’s.
• China Post / Chunghwa Post — Taiwan’s postal service.
• Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) — Taiwan’s central bank literally retains “Republic of China” in its official name.
So when you say calling Taiwan “China” is somehow inherently wrong, you’re ignoring the ROC’s own identity and history. Calling Taiwan “China” should hardly be treated as an insult to the ROC — if anything, from the traditional ROC position, it should be a compliment, because you’re recognizing the “China” that the ROC itself historically claimed to represent.
You can argue that today, in common international usage, “China” usually means the PRC. Fine. But that is a convention, not some logical rule derived from your New York/Mexico analogy.
New York isn’t York. Albuquerque isn’t Mexico. But “Republic of China” and “People’s Republic of China” both actually contain the word China. That is the crucial difference your analogy completely misses.
This is a comment section of a travel blog but facts and truth remain indisputable. Opinions and facts are contradictory to and incompatible with one another. Taiwanese see their country as a sovereign state but in reality, there are more than 190 UN member countries do not recognize it as such. China has no beef when other countries' officials and businesses call Taiwan without including China as a whole country. But it will push back...
This is a comment section of a travel blog but facts and truth remain indisputable. Opinions and facts are contradictory to and incompatible with one another. Taiwanese see their country as a sovereign state but in reality, there are more than 190 UN member countries do not recognize it as such. China has no beef when other countries' officials and businesses call Taiwan without including China as a whole country. But it will push back and penalize those who instigate the independence status. The Cairo Declaration agreed by Churchill, Roosevelt and Kai-shek affirmed Taiwan as part of China ( it is a shame that Mao did not rule China at the time).
The founding father of Taiwan and his KMT with US support lost the entire mainland China to Mao and his CCP on Oct. 1, 1949. Taiwan became democratic in 1900s. Russia has presidential election. Three decades ago, Egyptians in Kuwait mocked Mubarak for winning 97% votes. We have presidential and congressional elections bankrolled by cronies and plutocrats --- meaning the elections are not free and fair if they cost hundreds and tens of millions dollars, respectively. Violence, chaos, dysfunctionality, corruption, lawlessness, absence of trust and loyalty are the undeclared and unwritten description of US among its global allies. Taiwanese should take cue from historical patterns inflicted on US allies by US foreign policies under pre-text of national security and interests. While China, after centuries of civil wars and foreign exploitations, emphasizes absence of chaos, performance and results. I do not see any outrage and condemnation when Nixon handed the UN permanent member status and power to CCP and relinquished it from Taiwan in 1971. Hypocricy or ignorance of history?
Not too many hypocrite snowflakes back in the 1970s.
They are all under the propaganda against commies. And China was supposed to balance Russia and Vietnam, the propaganda enemy of brainwashed democracy.
wumao bot
Seems pretty avoidable: « Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Taipei. Failing to declare importation of food products may lead to fines from government authorities. »
Voila, avoided…
Why would they want to avoid that.
The best way to maintain propaganda over the puppet buffer state is to ensure conflict keeps on going. And what better way than having skirmishes like this.
Middle East seems to be a good proxy to do such schemes.
UAE needs those PATRIOT and THAAD resupply soon.
While out of favor Zenlensky won't be getting any resupply until they replace him with another popularity puppet who they can control.
Sano is correct . The Republic of China ( Taiwan ) has free elections and other freedoms which are not allowed by the China PRC . Everyone saw what they did to HK and Tien An Am square .
They forgot to teach you about My Lai in school.
And definitely never taught you about February 28.
Every government have propaganda on things they want to suppress.
They are just following big brother's lead by example.
"welcome back to Navajo nation, America.” “passengers who bring meat products into the country will be fined by the US government.”
That’s what Xi said?
Why on earth is it assumed that "China" refers to PRC in this context? The place the plane landed in is literally called Republic of China and it is governed by the rightful government of China. Just because the rest of China is occupied by PRC authorities doesn't change this.
I understand that this is a point of contention within Taiwan, and that the political party that has been in power since 2016 favours an independent Taiwanese identity.
It is utterly absurd that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities, while currently in power, seek to overturn the Constitution of the Republic of China.