Companies have no leeway to skirt around one China

Three months have passed since China's civil aviation authority wrote to more than 40 international airlines asking them to remove from their websites information that refers Taiwan as an independent country.

Beijing's move did not come out of blue. It is in direct response to the increased push for the island's "independence" since Tsai Ing-wen and her pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party took office. The more she denies the 1992 consensus that agrees there is only one China, and Taiwan is a part of it, the more Beijing will react by actively asserting that the island is an inalienable part of the country.

So far most of the carriers that the Civil Aviation Administration of China wrote to have already complied with its instruction before the July 25 deadline, calling the island "Taiwan, China" or "Chinese Taipei". Although some of the late-doers are complying grudgingly. Some are reportedly using certain city names rather than referring to Taiwan as part of China.