An Air New Zealand plane en route to Shanghai was forced to turn around mid-air and return to Auckland on Sunday because the flight’s paperwork included a reference to the disputed island of Taiwan, according to a local media report.

The Stuff news website on Tuesday cited multiple sources as confirming that documents for the Air NZ flight 289 included a reference to Taiwan which China understood to be an acknowledgement that the island was independent.

Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its own territory and has threatened to take it by force if necessary, has tried isolate the island diplomatically and has waged a campaign to force global businesses, including airlines, to refer to the democracy in official documents as Chinese territory and not a country.

The Auckland-based carrier had previously said that the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which was carrying 270 passengers, had done a U-turn because of “an administrative issue on our end” and apologised to its customers.

It has not commented directly on the possible Taiwan connection.