Accuses Beijing of ‘Orwellian Nonsense’:

U.S. Ups Ante in War of Words With China

Date: 06 May 2018 - 20:26

News ID: ۵۲۶۰۴

WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- The White House has sharply criticized China’s efforts to force foreign airlines to change how they refer to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, labeling China’s latest effort to police language describing the politically sensitive territories as "Orwellian nonsense.”
Amid an escalating fight over China’s trade surplus with the United States, the White House said China’s Civil Aviation Administration sent a letter to 36 foreign air carriers, including a number of U.S. carriers, demanding changes.
The carriers were told to remove references on their websites or in other material that suggests Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau are part of countries independent from China, U.S. and airline officials said.
The White House said in a statement that President Donald Trump "will stand up for Americans resisting efforts by the Chinese Communist Party to impose Chinese political correctness on American companies and citizens.”
"This is Orwellian nonsense and part of a growing trend by the Chinese Communist Party to impose its political views on American citizens and private companies. ... We call on China to stop threatening and coercing American carriers and citizens.”
Taiwan is China’s most sensitive territorial issue. Beijing considers the self-ruled island a wayward province. Hong Kong and Macau are former European colonies that are now part of China but run largely autonomously.
On Sunday, China’s foreign ministry responded to the White House comments, saying that overseas companies operating in China should respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity, follow Chinese law and "respect the national feelings of the Chinese people”.
"No matter what the United States says, it cannot change the objective fact that there is only one China in the world and that Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are indivisible parts of Chinese territory,” spokesman Geng Shuang said in a statement on the ministry website.
The harsh exchanges follow contentious trade talks between senior U.S. and Chinese officials last week.
The Trump administration demanded a $200 billion cut in China’s trade surplus with the United States by 2020, sharply lower tariffs and a halt to subsidies for advanced technology, people familiar with the talks said.
Trump earlier this week praised his relationship with Xi but there were no signs of significant progress at the talks on Thursday and Friday, raising fears of a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Trump has already proposed tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods which could go into effect next month.
China has said its own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, including soybeans and aircraft, will go into effect if the U.S. duties are imposed.
It has also requested that Washington treat Chinese investment equally under national security reviews and stop issuing new restrictions on Chinese investment.
The dispute over how airlines refer to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau is another area of tension in U.S.-China relations.