TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Royal Bank of Canada has decided to abide by “Chinese Law” and designate Taiwan as a “province of China” on its website.



When customers dealing with the Canadian bank want to transfer money to or from Taiwan, the bank will classify the transaction as occurring in China.

The obvious difference between currencies and monetary policies appears to be lost on the financial institution, which is worrying for the fact the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is Canada's largest bank.



RBC’s decision to alter Taiwan’s designation on its website comes shortly after Air Canada bowed to similar pressure from Beijing.



Beijing has been waging a campaign of harassment to pressure businesses throughout the world to “fall in line with the Communist Party’s standards” and to establish “Chinese law” over foreign companies operating outside of China’s borders.



In April , Beijing sent letters to airlines around the world making a demand that the country of Taiwan (along with the Macao and Hong Kong SAR regions) be designated as territories of China, in accordance with “Chinese Law.”



The letters said airlines that did not comply by the May 25 deadline would be referred to the “relevant cyber security authorities” which some observers speculate might mean shutting down company websites within China.

However, when the deadline of May 25 passed, China’s aviation regulator announced that only 18 out of 44 airlines had complied with the communist party’s demands.



Alarmingly, Air Canada was on the list of companies that chose to comply with the communist regime and disregard Taiwan’s autonomy and right to self-determination.



Now Canada’s largest bank, RBC, appears to have done the same, making it clear to the world that Chinese money is more important to them than the liberty and dignity of 23 million people.



The Star Vancouver reports that RBC made a statement claiming that they have "been leveraging the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for country descriptions. As part of our commitment to responding to the needs of our clients we will be making updates to our system to change how Taiwan is listed.”

The bank has not yet responded to questions concerning the change. According to the report, a campaign is being waged by the Taiwanese-Canadian community to boycott companies like Air Canada and RBC, and to bring attention to the “unjust interference of third parties” in the business of Canadian companies.

In many countries across the world there is a growing concern about Chinese influence being exerted through financial methods as a means of subverting the political process.

Canada and Australia in particular appear vulnerable to such manipulation, with some worried that Canada may be selling out its democratic values to accommodate Chinese business.



RBC and Air Canada both kow-towing to Beijing may provide some indication of their lack in ethical standards.