Taipei, May 15 (CNA) The government has lodged a protest against a change of its designation to "Taiwan, China" on the website of Air Canada, the country's flag carrier and largest airline, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday.

The ministry has already directed its representative office in Canada to tell the airline that the change is unacceptable to the government and people of Taiwan, said MOFA spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章).

Lee also reiterated the government's stance on the matter, asking the airline not to belittle Taiwan or damage its sovereignty and dignity by bowing to pressure from China.

As an independent and sovereign nation, the people of Taiwan will not be subdued by any threat or intimidation, and any such attempts will only stir resentment from the people of Taiwan toward the Chinese government, he added.

The spokesman said the foreign ministry is watching the situation and has called on Air Canada to change the designation back to simply "Taiwan."

The name change came in the wake of letters sent by China's Civil Aviation Administration in late April, pressuring 36 American and international airlines to remove references to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as countries on their websites and marketing materials.

In a rare statement issued by the White House May 5, the U.S. government slammed China's demand as "Orwellian nonsense" and said it deemed the request "Chinese political correctness."

"China's internal Internet repression is world-famous. China's efforts to export its censorship and political correctness to Americans and the rest of the free world will be resisted," the statement said.

(By Ku Chuan and Ko Lin)
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