China has dismissed White House criticism of its demand that foreign airlines not refer to self-ruled Taiwan as a country, saying companies operating in China must respect its sovereignty.
"Whatever the US says will never change the objective fact that there is only one China in the world and the Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan regions are an inalienable part of China's territory," Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a statement Sunday posted online.
"Foreign enterprises operating in China should respect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, abide by China's law and respect the national sentiment of the Chinese people," Geng said.
Unlike self-ruled Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau are Chinese territories operating with some degree of autonomy.
Taiwan's independence-leaning president, Tsai Ing-wen, weighed in with a tweet, saying, "We call on all businesses to resist #China's efforts to mischaracterize #Taiwan."
The White House on Saturday condemned China's efforts to control how U.S. airlines refer to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, saying the push to make them comply with Chinese standards is "Orwellian nonsense."
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