Just Think How Happy the Other Side of the Strait Will Be about the Corporate Name Change of China Airlines

Just Think How Happy the Other Side of the Strait Will Be about the Corporate Name Change of China Airlines

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

April 16, 2020

 Translation of an Excerpt

Taiwan conveys its warmth to the international community by donating face masks, surprisingly staging the name change issue of “China Airlines” and even "The Chinese Professional Baseball Association", becoming a truly shocking episode. Those who advocate changing the name of "China Airlines" to "Taiwan Airlines" probably didn’t think of three points: 1. The corporate name of "Taiwan Airlines" had been registered; its trademark belongs to Lirong Airlines, a subsidiary of EVA Air; 2. The price of renegotiating freedoms of the air and aviation agreements will be stupendous after the corporate name change; 3. More importantly, the Chinese Mainland will be very happy that China Airlines would yield to them the name China, because at that time "Taiwan Airlines" just as Hainan Airlines and Sichuan Airlines, look more like a provincial airline under the banner of China.

Whether it be the Premier or the Minister of Transportation and Communications, decision-making by government officials should not cater to populist sensationalism. Whether China Airlines should change, and how it changes its corporate name ought to make a thorough study of the matter, and then make pronouncements and decisions. The Tsai government has clearly proclaimed that both sides of the Strait have parity sovereignty, in other words, "The Republic of China, Taiwan" is the maximum consensus among our countrymen. However, with regard to the fact that the name China Airlines contains “Chunghwa” and “China”, it nevertheless adopts an attitude of “may be cut off or jettisoned”; isn’t this contradictory? Former legislator Shen Fu-hsiung says that if the government could replace the logo of the plum blossom with the "Republic of China national flag", this would be real capability. How true it is! Using the approach of “corporate name change” to proclaim Taiwan's sovereignty is only ostrichism, or surrendering without a fight.

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