Interesting development in Taiwan:
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/425822/987287
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Taiwan firms drop China from names</b>
Feb 12, 2007
Taiwan's post office and petroleum companies formally dropped China from their names on Monday, despite a rebuke from the United States, which sees the move as potentially upsetting the island's status quo with China.
The changes, made without legislative debate, were designed to end confusion between Taiwan and Chinese firms, said Cheng Wen-tsang, a spokesman for the cabinet appointed by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which leans towards independence for the island.
The changes were opposed by the <b>United States, which recognises China and not Taiwan</b> but has urged the two diplomatic foes to get along better.
The switches also are likely to prompt condemnation in Beijing which has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
In a ceremony at the post office on Monday, Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian said: "This is just a small step towards making Taiwan an integrated country."
"In the future, moves such as joining the United Nations under the name of Taiwan and using the name of Taiwan to participate in the international society will let us completely get away from the bondage of the old era," Chen said.
After half a year of planning by leaders in the government, led by the Democratic Progressive Party, five companies that are fully or partly owned by the state announced name changes over the past week to omit China.
"Mainly, this is to push Taiwan independence," said Zhu Weidong, assistant director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Taiwan Studies in Beijing. "When (Taiwan President) Chen Shui-bian began campaigning, this was already a clear matter."
The post office, Chunghwa Post Co. Ltd., changed its name to Taiwan Post Co. Ltd. Changing signs at 1,321 post offices around the island was expected to cost T$67 million ($NZ2.96 million).
"The reason is to avoid confusion with the postal system of mainland China," Taiwan Post spokesman Hong Yao-kuang said ahead of a name-changing ceremony in Taipei.
Also from Monday, the Chinese Petroleum Corp. will be called CPC Corp., Taiwan.
China Shipbuilding Corp. switched to the acronym CSBC, and the Central Bank of China changed its English name to Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The bank's Chinese-language name does not refer to China.
The Taiwan Water Corp., a public utility, meanwhile, dropped the word "province" after Taiwan.
<b>The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, recognising "one China", but is obliged by its Taiwan Relations Act to defend the island.</b>
After the Nationalist Party occupied Taiwan, it declared itself the government of China and branded state-run companies accordingly, names that stuck after it lost the mainland to the Communists in 1949.
But the current president, who was elected in 2000, and his party want more distance between Taiwan and China.
"He is strongly committed to promote the Taiwan identity," said Andrew Yang, secretary general of the China Council of Advanced Policy Studies in Taipei.
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http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/425822/987287
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Taiwan firms drop China from names</b>
Feb 12, 2007
Taiwan's post office and petroleum companies formally dropped China from their names on Monday, despite a rebuke from the United States, which sees the move as potentially upsetting the island's status quo with China.
The changes, made without legislative debate, were designed to end confusion between Taiwan and Chinese firms, said Cheng Wen-tsang, a spokesman for the cabinet appointed by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which leans towards independence for the island.
The changes were opposed by the <b>United States, which recognises China and not Taiwan</b> but has urged the two diplomatic foes to get along better.
The switches also are likely to prompt condemnation in Beijing which has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
In a ceremony at the post office on Monday, Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian said: "This is just a small step towards making Taiwan an integrated country."
"In the future, moves such as joining the United Nations under the name of Taiwan and using the name of Taiwan to participate in the international society will let us completely get away from the bondage of the old era," Chen said.
After half a year of planning by leaders in the government, led by the Democratic Progressive Party, five companies that are fully or partly owned by the state announced name changes over the past week to omit China.
"Mainly, this is to push Taiwan independence," said Zhu Weidong, assistant director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Taiwan Studies in Beijing. "When (Taiwan President) Chen Shui-bian began campaigning, this was already a clear matter."
The post office, Chunghwa Post Co. Ltd., changed its name to Taiwan Post Co. Ltd. Changing signs at 1,321 post offices around the island was expected to cost T$67 million ($NZ2.96 million).
"The reason is to avoid confusion with the postal system of mainland China," Taiwan Post spokesman Hong Yao-kuang said ahead of a name-changing ceremony in Taipei.
Also from Monday, the Chinese Petroleum Corp. will be called CPC Corp., Taiwan.
China Shipbuilding Corp. switched to the acronym CSBC, and the Central Bank of China changed its English name to Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The bank's Chinese-language name does not refer to China.
The Taiwan Water Corp., a public utility, meanwhile, dropped the word "province" after Taiwan.
<b>The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, recognising "one China", but is obliged by its Taiwan Relations Act to defend the island.</b>
After the Nationalist Party occupied Taiwan, it declared itself the government of China and branded state-run companies accordingly, names that stuck after it lost the mainland to the Communists in 1949.
But the current president, who was elected in 2000, and his party want more distance between Taiwan and China.
"He is strongly committed to promote the Taiwan identity," said Andrew Yang, secretary general of the China Council of Advanced Policy Studies in Taipei.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->