House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party chair Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) wrote to the CEOs of hotel chains Hilton, Marriott, and Hyatt on Wednesday, asking them to explain why their websites and other materials refer to Taiwan as “Taiwan, China” – the preferred nomenclature of the Chinese Communist Party.
The letter from Moolenaar and Blackburn was addressed to Hilton Worldwide CEO Christopher J. Nassetta, Marriott International CEO Anthony Capuano, and Hyatt Hotels Corporation CEO Mark Hoplamazian. The letter warned these executives that they were “implicitly recognizing Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)” with their phrasing.
Moolenaar and Blackburn said identifying Taiwan as part of China “stands in stark contrast to the position of the United States government,” and works “to the detriment of Taiwan, a thriving democracy and one of America’s top trading partners.”
“Using terminology such as ‘Taiwan, China’ gives false credence to the PRC’s position of authority and sovereignty over Taiwan, and implies that Taiwan is the property of the PRC,” they noted. “Other major U.S. companies with an international presence correctly identify Taiwan as an entity separate from that of China, and we urge your companies to follow suit.”
In addition to asking the CEOs to correct their references to Taiwan, Moolenaar and Blackburn asked if their decisions have been “influenced by any instructions, guidelines, requests, or suggestions from the PRC government or related entities.”
Beijing has a history of using both overt and subtle pressure to force Western companies into compliance with its speech codes. In one notorious incident from 2018, China pressured clothing retailer Gap into apologizing for selling a T-shirt that did not depict Taiwan, Tibet, and disputed islands in the South China Sea as part of China.
Also in 2018, China bullied the three largest U.S. airlines into changing references to Taiwan on their websites. The airlines had been listing Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, as “Taipei, Taiwan” in pull-down menus when customers selected it as a destination. The airlines changed their sites to present Taiwan as a city without a country, which enraged Taiwanese officials.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) checked the Hilton, Marriott, and Hyatt websites on Thursday and found that all three still contained references to “Taiwan, China.” All three hotel chains declined to comment when RFA reached out to them.
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