TOKYO: Japan’s two largest airlines have changed “Taiwan” to “China Taiwan” on their Chinese-language websites, officials said on Tuesday, sparking an immediate protest from the self-ruled island. China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has demanded that dozens of international airlines make such a change.

Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA) said their alteration was made on June 12 and was meant to accommodate customers. The description remains “Taiwan” on their websites in Japanese and other languages.

“We made the judgement [to change the name] while consulting and reporting to the transport ministry and foreign ministry,” said a spokesman at Japan Airlines. “The change came on June 12 as our preparations were done by then,” he said.

June 12 was the date of the historic summit between North Korea and the United States, which attracted international attention.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said it was lodging protests with the two airlines and demanded a correction to the “inappropriate title”.

The airlines are not the only international carriers who have made the change recently, with Australia’s Qantas earlier this month defending its decision to list Taiwan as part of China.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2018