Quite a few years ago the Chinese Government in Beijing brought in a rule that said airlines operating services to Taiwan could not operate into mainland China. Quite a few airlines then created subsidiaries for flights to Taiwan. JAL with JAA, KLM with KLM asia, British Airways with British Asia Airways, Swissair with Swissair Asia etc. I think it's only KLM who still have aircraft painted with these titles. Japan Asia Airways was merged back into JAL mainline at the end of Mar-08.