About 40 members of the Restoration of Taiwan Social Justice group clashed with police yesterday after staging a surprise protest against a controversial Chinese flight route at the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) offices, calling on MAC Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言) to step down.
The M503 flight route — which runs close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait and is scheduled to be inaugurated on Sunday — has come under heavy criticism from many in Taiwan.
Critics say that it could endanger national security and that it circumvents legislative oversight.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The route was an arbitrary announcement by China, the group’s chief executive, Lin Yu-lun (林于倫), said, adding that even after negotiations with President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, Beijing only agreed to move the flight route westward by 6 nautical miles (11km), placing it 10.2 nautical miles from the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
The route is not an “international civilian route with no flight security risks,” Lin said, adding that it is a Chinese ploy to turn the Taiwan Strait into Chinese territorial waters.
It is difficult to continue to have faith in the council’s slogan touting itself as the gatekeeper of Taiwan in light of the government’s pursuit of China-friendly policies and its acceptance of a policy that seriously undermines Taiwanese sovereignty, Lin said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Protesters scuffled briefly with police before being forced outside, where they gathered until a council representative accepted a letter of protest.
Lin demanded that the council issue a response no later than today or the group would launch a larger-scale demonstration.
Separately, National Security Bureau Director-General Lee Shying-jow (李翔宙) said that public fears that the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) would conduct regular patrols west of the median line after the M503 route is launched are unfounded.
Having international flight routes close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait means that the PLAAF would keep its patrols even closer to the Chinese coast, giving Taiwan more room in terms of response time, Lee told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
Critics of the M503 route have said the normalization of the route would mean increased PLAAF patrols west of the median line.
Lee said that incidences of Chinese jets breaching the median line were dealt with on a “case-by-case basis.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) rejected the claim, saying that since former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) sparked tensions by defining the cross-strait relationship as a “special state-to-state” relationship in 1999, the PLAAF has flown 1,100 patrols near the median line each year.
The continued provocation by Chinese jets west of the median line are not “case-by-case” incidents, Lin said, asking Lee whether the M503 route forcing the Chinese jets to retreat from the median line was what he meant by a successful negotiation.
Lee said that since 1999, China has presumably extended patrol parameters from 10 nautical miles from the coast to just west of the median line, adding that there are six to 12, or even 18 to 24, Chinese jets patrolling per day.
With its domestic A470 flight route heavily congested and Beijing agreeing to move the M503 path westward, the world can see that the Chinese have turned what was once combat patrol airspace into international commercial airspace, Lee said.
The westward shift of the PLAAF patrol routes means that Taiwan would gain significant anti-aircraft warning time, Lee said.
Additional reporting by CNA AND AFP
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS