China has not asked Air New Zealand to change how it refers to flights to Taiwan, the airline says.

Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King

Earlier this year, China demanded that foreign firms, and airlines in particular, not refer to Taiwan as a non-Chinese territory.

Taiwan is China's most sensitive territorial issue. Beijing considers the island a province of China.

Beijing set a final deadline of 25 July for the changes and last month rejected US requests for talks on the matter.

Airlines such as Air Canada, Air India and Qantas have given in to China.

The three biggest US airlines, American Airlines Group Inc, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have also changed the way they describe Taiwan's capital, Taipei.

It is now listed on their websites with the airport code and city, but not the name Taiwan.

Air New Zealand announced in February it would fly between Auckland and Taipei from November.

A spokesperson for the airline said it had not been contacted by China.

Taiwan's foreign ministry on Wednesday said it "most severely" condemned the Chinese government's use of political power to "crudely and unreasonably interfere with private commercial activity and international companies' operations."

It was unclear how China might punish airlines that do not comply, but in December it added a clause to rules governing foreign airlines saying regulators could change a company's permit if it did not meet "the demand of public interest."

American Airlines spokeswoman Shannon Gilson said the firm had implemented the changes at China's request in line with other carriers. "Air travel is global business, and we abide by the rules in countries where we operate," she said.

Hawaiian Airlines had changed its website ahead of the deadline to showing searches for flights to Taiwan's capital as "Taipei, Taipei" in dropdown menus.

United spokesman Frank Benenati confirmed the airline made the website changes and said it "abides by and respects local laws and regulations in all markets and jurisdictions where we operate and conduct business."

- RNZ / Reuters