New Delhi, July 5: Taiwan is now Chinese Taipei on Air India's website. A spokesperson of Air India on Thursday said the decision of renaming Taiwan as Chinese Taipei was taken following instructions from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Now, Air India describes Taiwan as 'Taipei, Taoyuan Taoyuan International Airport, TPE, Chinese Taipei' on its website.

"There was a mail to the regional manager in Hong Kong from China Registry, MEA, Government of India, wherein they have approved the nomenclatures to be used by Air India on its website in respect of Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region) of China, Macau SAR of China and Chinese Taipei," the Air India spokesperson was quoted as saying.

China considers Taiwan, an island which has been independent since 1950, as one of its rebel parts. Several international airlines stopped referring to Taiwan as a separate country since China had objection to it in April. The Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC), on April 25, had sent out letters to various foreign airlines asking them them to change the way Taiwan was referred to in their website, as per media reports.

Air India operates flights to two destinations in China region — Shanghai and Hong Kong. While Air India does not have flights to Chinese Taipei, it has a code share with Air China. This is the reason that this destination is listed on Air India website. Code sharing allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carriers and provide seamless travel to destinations where it has no presence.

The Chinese government welcomed and 'approved' the move by Air India. Responding to Air India’s decision to change the name of Taiwan on its website, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said Beijing welcome the move. “Our position on this issue is quite clear. The Indian side and other countries must be clear about our position on this issue," Lu said.

“Air India is respecting the basic fact that there is one China and Taiwan is part of China. We approve of that. Respecting China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and obeying Chinese law is a basic principle that foreign companies need to follow in China,” Lu added.

The Air India spokesperson had said it followed the procedure as advised by the Ministry of External Affairs in updating its website with respect to changing name of Taiwan. (With PTI inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 05, 2018 03:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).