Wed, Mar 04, 2015 page1

• TSU legislators protest against PRC air routes

  • By Alison Hsiao and Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter and staff writer, with CNA
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislators yesterday occupied the legislative speaker’s podium to protest against China’s unilateral establishment of an air route close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait and the government agreeing to China’s “trial flights” before the route is implemented.

  The Mainland Affairs Council and the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) on Monday night announced that Chinese air route M503, unilaterally announced by Beijing on Jan. 12 and just 7.8km from the median line at its nearest point, would be moved 6 nautical miles (11km) to the west and its implementation be delayed until China conducted test flights along the path.

  Three feeder routes — W121, W122 and W123 — are to be temporarily frozen, they said.

  

  Taiwan Soldarity Union Legislator Chou Ni-an holds a sign objecting to new air routes proposed by China during a question-and-answer session with Premier Mao Chi-kuo, second left, in the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times

  “We are not satisfied with the conclusion, but on the basis of maintaining flight safety and national security, we are settling for [the unsatisfactory resolution],” Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) told the legislature yesterday morning.

  When pressed by reporters to describe what he found unsatisfactory, Mao said that China moving the proposed route farther west would be a better outcome.

  While a nation may establish new air routes in its flight information region, it is obligated to negotiate with neighboring nations, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言) said, citing regulations set by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

  Hsia added that the implementation date for the M503 air route would be renegotiated after Beijing gathers information during its trial flights, saying that “trial flights” are not a “trial operation.”

  TSU legislators occupied the podium before the question-and-answer session on the Cabinet’s policy report, shouting denunciations against Beijing’s establishment of the routes and Taipei’s approval of the trial flights.

  The routes were “unilaterally set” and “put [Taiwan’s] flight safety at risk,” they said.

  If Taiwan acquiesced after China arbitrarily established the routes without prior notice and negotiation, “there will be no end to it” in the future, TSU caucus whip Lai Cheng-chang (賴振昌) said.

  Lai later questioned Mao’s “settling for” the unsatisfactory conclusion, asking the premier how he could be certain that Chinese aircraft would not fly eastward or that other routes would not be established east of M503 in the future.

  “It is not possible that [China] would establish other air routes east of the M503,” Mao said.

  Beijing has promised that the aircraft on the M503 route would move to the west if they must deviate from the course during emergencies, he said, adding that Beijing also assured Taipei that the routes are to be for civil aviation, and that “Chinese fighter jets would not be entering the region.”

  “It is a plus to our national security,” he added.

  The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said China’s revised M503 route was unacceptable.

  Moving the M503 route farther west without canceling it still endangers national security, DPP spokesman Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said on Monday night.

  Beijing’s unilateral move to open new flight routes without first negotiating them with Taipei infringes on Taiwan’s flight security, national security and sovereignty, while violating the spirit of international civil aviation conventions, he said.

  The DPP objected to Beijing’s move and called for the government to take action to safeguard the nation’s interests, he said.

  All major cross-strait issues require considerable negotiation and understanding between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to maintain peace and stability in the region, he said.

  Meanwhile, Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) told a news conference in Taipei that the military has response measures in place and will closely monitor aircraft flying over the Taiwan Strait to ensure national safety.

  Military air patrols will continue to protect Taiwan’s airspace, and those patrols and combat training in the area will not be affected by China’s planned flight routes, Lo said.

  He said the military is capable of effectively monitoring all aircraft near the Strait and denied a report that cited an unnamed military official as saying that China’s new flight routes could overburden Taiwan’s air defenses.

  Since direct flights between Taiwan and China were launched in 2008, the defense ministry has been able to monitor all 280,000 civilian aircraft, including 140,000 Chinese planes, crossing the Strait.

  The ministry has rigorous monitoring measures and will continue its efforts to safeguard the nation, he said.

  “The military is able and is confident of ensuring the safety of Taiwan’s air space,” Lo said.

  Meanwhile, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) told a news conference at the Shanghai Area Control Center that Taiwan should not politicize the route issue.

  The M503 route has no strategic value in military terms, Ma said.

  To delay implementation of the M503 route is the most friendly gesture Beijing could make, Chinese Air Traffic Management Bureau Director Che Jin-jun (車進軍) said, adding that the route is a “peace line” between Taiwan and China.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Chinese technicians join airport MRT project

  • 2

    A train for whom? Is a new monorail helpful for Cairo?

  • 3

    Apple is giving Intel’s turnaround some momentum

  • 4

    Taiwan to produce more than 1,200 new missiles

  • 5

    Taiwan firms eye Philippines amid shift to non-China supply chains: CIER