Taiwan tells Qantas: live by ‘spirit’ motto, show courage against China

Taipei’s envoy has been instructed to lodge a protest with Qantas over its decision to change the way it ­refers to Taiwan.

Taipei’s envoy to Australia has been instructed to lodge a protest with Qantas over the company’s decision to change the way it ­refers to Taiwan.

Qantas boss Alan Joyce has defended the airline’s decision to bow to China’s demands and refer to Taiwan as part of China on its website after senior Australian ministers said companies should be free of “political pressure” and criticised Beijing.

A spokesman from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Australia confirmed the instruction and told The Australian: “We wish to refer to the motto shown in the Qantas plane that says ‘the spirit of Australia’. Undoubtedly, this spirit should be predicated on freedom, courage, mutual respect, endurance, etc, that this great land so dearly embraces.

“We hope that the principles upheld by this … nation will be uplifted by a prestigious airline like Qantas.”

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Andrew Lee, said this week he had directed the representative office in Australia to lodge the protest with Qantas after its decision became public. He said Taiwan urged Qantas to reverse the decision.

The Taiwanese government was very concerned and said the airline should resist Beijing’s demands, according to Taiwanese media. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry recently asked Air Canada for a “speedy correction” following the airline’s decision to list Taipei as a Chinese territory.

Asked about the protest late yesterday, Qantas pointed to its previous comments. This week, Mr Joyce said “it’s very clear that airlines don’t ­decide what countries are called, governments do” and noted that Australia, “like a lot of countries, has a one-China ­policy”.

The US has lobbied Australia over China’s demands. Yesterday, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed the matter had been discussed by US and Australian officials. A US embassy spokeswoman said the US objected to Beijing dictating how airlines organised their websites.

“We have raised with partner governments the issue of China’s order to airlines to change their websites,” the spokeswoman said.

“We urged those governments to express concerns to China, as the US has done.”

Global airline bosses pointed to the booming aviation market to China yesterday during a CAPA-Centre for Aviation conference in Sydney. The chief executive of British Airways’ owner, IAG, Willie Walsh, said China would be a “fantastic opportunity”, though it had been a “challenge” because of the cost of a visas for Chinese to visit Britain.

The chief executive of Qatar Airways, Akbar al-Baker, described China as a “very good market” and hoped China would release more airport slots for ­foreign carriers “to really meet the demand”.

In April, the Civil Aviation Administration of China wrote to 44 airlines seeking changes to their website references to Taiwan within 30 days. Some complied by the deadline while others, including Qantas, were given extensions.

Labor appeared to be at odds over the issue yesterday. Defence spokesman Richard Marles told Sky News that the government was wrong to criticise China over its edict, but Bill Shorten had said of China’s demands on Tuesday: “I think I’d rather that hadn’t ­happened.”