In the photo at left (click to enlarge) is shown an image of the Australia Post Office's package tracking system, which clearly says "Taiwan, Province of China" and also does not display the national flag. Kudos to this blog for spotting the error. Email Ozpost to express your polite suggestion that this should be changed.[Taiwan]
14 comments:
What is interesting is not all parts of the site are like that: http://www1.auspost.com.au/international/index.asp?action=intlookup&sub=1
I actually had to look up that section of the site...how do you get to it without searching for it?
Regardless...E-mail sent.
I've made a polite inquiry on their customer service page. Shocking but not surprising? I noticed your post a while back with a packaged mailed from the US and labeled the same. Has there been any update on that? Have other packages been received that way as well? It feels like being taunted and it is hard to believe it gets by.
International Package tracking.
Dale, I'll inquire. i don't know what happened with US either.
How ambarrasing. A request for correction has been sent.
As far as the US one goes:
1) AIT has denied any change in policy.
2) Taiwan's representative office has filed an official demarche with the US Government (I was surprised too) in protest.
3) Other groups have issued statements to the USG in protest.
The ball in now in the USG's court.
I would encourage anyone else who has a problem with this, especially US citizens, to write to AIT, the State Department and the USPS on this issue.
Being holiday time, there is an increase in mail departing from the US. If this problem is wide spread, that's a lot of propagandizing being done.
If Taiwanese who read this blog receive packages from the US, let us know how they are addressed.
I sent a polite request as well. To be honest, things like this bother me more because of the incorrectness of the "Province of China" tag after Taiwan. Technically, Taiwan still is a province of China, so I can forgive the Post for wanting to play it safe. But if they are going to include Taiwan at all, why can't they call it ROC or just drop the country bit? Notice that they didn't add an SAR after Hong Kong. Does this mean that Hong Kong is a country? The convoluted logic people use to please China is unaccaptable.
My letter has been sent. I am prepared for it to be totally ignored like the one I sent to the USPS on November 19 seems to have been.
Tim Maddog
I also noticed that the currency exchange dealer at Hong Kong's airport has replaced the ROC flag with... ready for this... the flower logo for China Airways. This is the first time that I have noticed it.
also look at this...even this "non-governmental organization" as it says on its website
http://www.iso.org/iso/country_codes/iso_3166_code_lists/english_country_names_and_code_elements.htm#t..
Australia post repsonded to my complaint. See below. Lets hope the "appropriate area" do something about it.
Dear Stephen
Thank you for recent enquiry you sent via our website.
Sent: Monday, 15 December 2008 2:12 PM
Category: Product & Services
Product: Express Post International
Your Enquiry
I am an Australian living in Taiwan and would like to let you know you have incorrectly labeled Taiwan as a province of China in your International package tracking web page. This is a claim made by China but not accepted by Taiwan or any other country of the world. Could you please correct this.
Our Response
Thanks for the comment and I have advised the appropriate area. We regret very much for the caused inconvenience.
Kind Regards,
Doraisamy
I got a reply that was nearly identical to Stephen's -- the small differences probably being based on the "category" and "product" each of us selected from the pop-up menus on their web site.
But I see that the International Tracking page now lists Taiwan as "TAIWAN" and that the flag icon is back. (It wasn't there the first time I visited the site.) The International Post Guide page also lists Taiwan as "TAIWAN" -- under the "COUNTRY" menu, in fact.
Maybe they did listen. Let's keep an eye on it.
Tim Maddog
This is probably courtesy of the ISO. The default on much programing software is "Taiwan, Province of China." So when you get your database software up, you have to especially go in an change that setting to simply "Taiwan."
As far as the other things mentioned... what happened to that supposedly international space diplomatic truce that Ma was going to usher in where China would stop trying to squeeze Taiwan if Taiwan stopped trying to assert itself? I guess China never made that agreement, and it was just some fantasy of Ma Ying-jeou's.
On Talking Show (大話新聞) earlier tonight (the Friday, December 19, 2008 show), host Cheng Hung-yi (鄭弘儀) read a letter from a viewer whose adult daughter wasn't allowed to board an AeroMéxico flight in Peru. She was told it was because she didn't have a Mexican visa (she had a stop there along the way home), and that because she was from "China Taiwan" -- as they put it -- she needed one. Previously, a Mexican visa was not needed, but airline staff said that this change had come into being just last month, and that "China Taiwan" was the airline's new designation for Taiwan.
The discussion of the above begins at the 1:56 mark in this video
This crap doesn't originate with the ISO. It has all been brought to you by the bullies in Beijing -- completely unimpeded by the feckless Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Tim Maddog
Problem fixed after I / We mentioned it. It sort of gives a little bit of reassurance into that well known oxymoron "Australian organisation"
Merry seasons greeting to you and yours, Geoff from Adelaide
Our Response
We have had a number of enquiries come through regarding this and have since made changes to our website. Thankyou for taking the time to bring this to our attention.
On behalf of Australia Post, I apologise for the inconvenience and disappointment this matter has caused you.
Kind Regards,
Nathan
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