But references to the self-ruled island remain the same on sites in Japanese and other languages
Japan’s two biggest airlines have changed “Taiwan” to “China Taiwan” on their Chinese-language websites, officials said on Tuesday, a move likely to please Beijing but anger the self-ruled island.
The change was made on June 12 and is meant to accommodate customers, Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA) said.
The description remains “Taiwan” on their websites in Japanese and other languages.
Both carriers said they had not received any protest from Taiwan so far, though Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported that the Taiwanese foreign ministry would lodge a complaint with the airlines through Japan’s de facto diplomatic mission in Taipei.
“We made the judgment [to change the name] while consulting and reporting to the transport ministry and foreign ministry,” a Japan Airlines spokesman said.
“The change came on June 12 as our preparations were done by then.”
June 12 was the date of the historic summit between North Korea and the United States, which attracted international attention.
