George Orwell would probably have seen the absurdity in the latest row between the United States and China. As tensions increase between the world’s two largest economies, the dispute hinges on Beijing’s edict to foreign airlines last month.
In a short statement, the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration told 36 foreign carriers, including a number of American airlines, to refer to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as part of the “one China policy.”
While former colony territories Hong Kong and Macau are Special Administrative Regions under the “one country, two systems” framework, Taiwan has been a self-ruled island since splitting from the mainland after the 1949 civil war and is now a thriving democracy.
On Saturday, the White House waded into the controversy with a sternly worded rebuke, calling it “Orwellian nonsense,” just 24 hours after US-China trade talks ended without any noticeable progress.
“This is part of a growing trend by the Chinese Communist Party to impose its political views on American citizens and private companies,’’ the White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
“China’s internal internet repression is world-famous,’’ she added. “China’s efforts to export its censorship and political correctness to Americans and the rest of the free world will be resisted.’’
Dystopian classic
If Orwell was still alive, he would certainly have been bemused after listening to Beijing’s response.
The 20th-century novelist and journalist despised totalitarianism, which was aptly illustrated in his metaphor novella Animal Farm and the dystopian classic Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Both literary masterpieces were highlighted in the opinion section of the state-owned English-language Global Times, which is run by the People’s Daily, the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party.
“It is the US that has been imposing incorrect views regarding Taiwan to its people and companies by trumping up Taiwan as a politically independent entity which is at odds with the internationally recognized fact,” Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University’s Institute of International Relations in Beijing, told Global Times on Sunday.
“George Orwell in his Animal Farm and 1984 [Nineteen Eighty-Four], published in the 1940s, leveled satires at the Soviet Union’s system. Using such terms to attack China shows that US elites still stubbornly take China as a Soviet Union-like authoritarian nation, and are trapped in their Cold War mentality, neglecting the fact that China’s socialist market economy is full of diversity,” Li added.
Before last weekend’s spat, the turbulence from the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration’s directive had buffeted two major global carriers.
In January, Qantas made changes to its website when the issue first flared up and British Airways publicly apologized for listing Taiwan and Hong Kong as separate countries in a drop-down menu on its website.
As for US airlines, they announced they would be working with the US government to decide what steps to take over the CCAA letter.
“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 regions are an integral part of the Chinese territory,” Geng Shuang, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said.
Still, he might like to pass on those views to Ctrip, one of the largest online travel agents in China. The Chinese-language site lists Taipei as a destination city under multiple categories, including “domestic” and “international” along with Hong Kong and Macau.
Domestic carriers list Taiwan airports separately to those on the mainland but call the destination “Taiwan, China.”
Supports independence
Naturally, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, whose Democratic Progressive Party supports independence, is vehemently against such ‘classifications’ after thanking the US for its support.
“We call on all businesses to resist #China’s efforts to mischaracterize #Taiwan,” Tsai said on Twitter.
Disputes such as these are commonplace, but President Donald Trump’s tough approach to China appears to be bucking the international trend as relations become distinctively chilly.
“China’s mercantilist economic policies bear a significant brunt of the blame, along with China’s growing military assertiveness, internal suppression of dissent, non-responsiveness to legitimate US concerns on trade, efforts to influence American political discourse, and injection of ideological tension into bilateral relations,” David M. Rubenstein, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution’s John L. Thornton China Center, said.
“Rather than pursuing a serious strategy to tackle specific problems, though, the Trump administration has embraced an undisciplined instinct for confrontation. Such an approach will not generate greater Chinese responsiveness to US concerns,” he pointed out.
Maybe not, but it will add to this realpolitik “Orwellian” drama, which is being played out on real-time news streams. The next installment is probably just a mouse click away.
Or simply ground those flights. They won’t last more than three weeks as airlines profit margins are extremely thin.
another piece of u.s.propaganda written by a cia plant. the only one forcing political change on anyone is the zionist neocon u.s adm and military .the u s can’t stand that china is becoming so powerful so they are trying to cause a military situation under the mistaken idea that he u s is superior and would win. don’t beleive ot folks,the u.s.military is filled with weak undeciplined criminals who have had their records expunged to qualify for service .and the officers are all neocon traitors.
The Chinese has taken a page from the American ideal of coercion through business entities. LOL. Just keep the plane flying in the air for a while longer if they refuse to comply. What we are seeing is a new form of hybrid warfare, who needs who more.
Hawaii & Alaska too
The UN recognise HK Macau Taiwan as parts of China. Shutdown these fake news websites will cut these Orwellian nonsense quickly.
List can include occupied native american territories. occupied mexican territories, occupied pacific islander territories, all the while lump it in a "one US policy".
In fact, should adapt what Washington effectively did : offer those territories trade deals and exchanges as if they are soverign nations and prop up independence minded leaders. After couple of decades we’ll see what happens.
Your first name is Joe. So why would someone with a Westernized name thinks in Easternized thought complained about naming?
That’s right. This is how Chinese mindset works. Chinese think that they can become possessive of those through naming is ridiculous beyond your first name attempt to become assimilated.
Your first name is Peter, a Caucasian name. Why wouldn’t be something such as Sie Li Seo or the likes!?
Fröit Mi
I think you are a little stuck up with names, aren’t you? You can just call him X-Men, I don’t think it does not matter much.
Nonsense is when you acknowledge one China policy, but on the other hand you sell weapon to the separatist. China has long tolerated this nonsense, not anymore.
Yes, China should establish diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Hawaii, with Guam, with Indian First NAtions in the US heartland, and referr to California, Texas and New Mexico as provinces of Mexico.
China should welcome secessionists in Texas and California and organise conferences for them.