SHANGHAI— American Airlines Group Inc., AAL -1.55% Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL -1.07% and United Continental Holdings Inc. UAL -1.90% joined other carriers in bowing to Chinese pressure to change the way they describe Taiwan—but stopped short of expressly referring to the self-governing island as part of China.
Beijing ordered all airlines in April to start referring to Taiwan as “Taiwan, China” and to stop implying that Taiwan is an independent country in their use of route maps and destination lists. Critics denounced the demand as bullying and the White House declared it “Orwellian nonsense.”
China considers Taiwan a province but the island has governed itself since 1949.
Many airlines, including Air Canada, British Airways and Deutsche Lufthansa AG, swiftly complied with the order and now refer to the island as “Taiwan, CN” or “Taiwan, China.”
Amid rising U.S.-China trade tensions, the three American carriers delayed making any changes while they consulted with the U.S. government. Its attempts to intercede were unsuccessful, however, with China refusing a U.S. request for talks about the issue.
The U.S. airlines updated their booking websites Wednesday, meeting the deadline set by China while making the smallest possible changes. American previously referred to the Taiwan capital as “TPE, Taiwan” in its list of destinations, but now lists “TPE — Taoyuan International,” a reference to Taipei’s main airport.
Delta now offers “TPE Taipei,”—leaving a hanging comma after Taipei.
United was the last to comply: it updated its website at roughly 1:45 p.m. Beijing time on deadline day.
“I don’t think this is the full response China wanted,” said Will Horton, an analyst at CAPA — Centre for Aviation, which provides aviation market data. “The U.S. airlines chose a creative solution.”
It is unclear whether their minimal compliance will be sufficient to avert China’s promised reprisals.
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The Civil Aviation Administration of China didn’t respond to a request for comment. The authority said in April that airlines failing to comply would be liable for unspecified punishment under a trial aviation industry credit program introduced at the start of 2018.
Mr. Horton and others suggested that China wouldn’t take dramatic actions, such as seeking to bar carriers from its airports, but would instead show its displeasure through unofficial punishments, such as assigning inconvenient airport gates to U.S. carriers or giving them low takeoff priority.
American Airlines AAL -1.55% spokeswoman Shannon Gilson said the company changed its website “to address China’s request. Air travel is a global business, and we abide by the rules in countries where we operate.”
A spokesman for United declined to comment, and Delta didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Japanese and Korean carriers were also slow to follow China’s orders, and adopted imaginative solutions similar to those adopted by the U.S. airlines. They now refer simply to “Taipei.”
The fact that global airlines accepted the Taiwan ultimatum in whole or in part shows Beijing’s growing ability to influence the operations of foreign corporations that want to operate in the world’s largest consumer market.
“China’s pressuring of airlines to delete Taiwan from their websites is an affront to rules-based order,” Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement via social media. “Taiwan is a much-valued democracy and this fact cannot be erased.”
Russell Hsiao, executive director of Global Taiwan Institute, a think tank based in Washington, D.C., said airlines had set a “chilling example” by caving in to Beijing’s demands, adding that they are effectively supporting Chinese efforts “to limit the freedoms of citizens in democracies” such as Taiwan.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the Taiwan demand was reasonable, and follows the “One China” policy Washington has accepted since 1979, when it rescinded diplomatic recognition of the Taiwan government as a condition for re-establishing diplomatic ties with China.
On Wednesday, Mr. Geng called the airline changes a “positive development.”
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing last month urged China “to stop threatening and coercing American companies and citizens,” but said the airlines would have to decide for themselves whether to comply.
A spokeswoman for Airlines for America, the carriers’ trade group, said it and “the affected U.S. airlines appreciate the engagement and counsel we have received from the Administration as carriers begin to implement a solution.”
The airline controversy is the latest in a series of interventions in the operations of foreign companies by Chinese authorities. Earlier this year, Marriott International , the Zara apparel chain and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz unit were among those forced to correct what Beijing considered inflammatory content, as it aggressively asserts China’s political worldview.
China’s demands also pose a challenge to the tightknit band of global alliances that have developed over the past two decades. State-owned Air China Ltd. is a member of the Star Alliance alongside United, Lufthansa, Taiwan’s EVA Airways Corp. and more than 20 other carriers—a marketing group that aims to provide passengers with a seamless booking and travel experience.
“Each airline is operated independently and as such each has to individually decide how they display the content of their websites,” said a spokesman for Star Alliance.
On its own website, Star Alliance still refers to “Taipei—Taiwan,” the formula now abandoned by its airline members.
—Alison Sider and Doug Cameron in Chicago contributed to this article.
Write to Trefor Moss at Trefor.Moss@wsj.com
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