Various groups are rallying opposition to the controversial flight routes proposed by China, calling on the public to participate in a demonstration in Taipei today.
Led by human rights lawyer and Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強), a coalition of groups is set to engage in a protest against the proposed routes outside the offices of Xiamen Air and China Southern Airlines at noon.
Proposed in January, China’s M503 flight route, which runs along the Taiwan Strait’s median line, and three connecting feeder routes have aroused resistance across the political spectrum.
Although reports have said there is to be a postponement of a start to the use of the routes, the groups say that China should cancel the plan, adding that the proposed flight routes reflect China’s ambitions to encroach upon Taiwanese airspace.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said on Monday that China has agreed to postpone the implementation of the M503 route and temporarily freeze the feeder routes. The routes were scheduled to take effect tomorrow.
However, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office has not confirmed the report, prompting uncertainty over the issue.
Lai urged the public to stand firm against China’s ambition to claim the Taiwan Strait as part of its own territorial waters, adding that route M503 could serve as a “line of departure” for a potential Chinese invasion.
Lai said the measure could be used as an excuse for Chinese military aircraft to edge toward the median line of the Taiwan Strait in the name of protecting civilian flights, adding that it would take only five minutes for a Chinese J-10 fighter aircraft to reach Taiwan proper from the median line.
He also criticized comments by Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Tseng Dar-jen (曾大仁), who said last month that Taiwan could not rule out implementation of the flight route since it was “situated within Chinese territory.”
Lai said that although parts of the Taiwan Strait could be considered part of China’s flight information region, the Taiwan Strait is “absolutely not” part of Chinese territory or airspace.
“The proposed routes would in effect expand China’s airspace, as it is customary to lay claims in territorial disputes based on actual use,” union executive secretary Chen Guan-yu (陳冠宇) said.
He added that the airspace between the median line of the Taiwan Strait and the Chinese coast is unused with the exception of Taiwanese flights to the outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu.
Lai urged members of the public to take an hour off work at noon to take part in a massive choir, which he said was inspired by the Baltic States’ “singing revolution” which preceded the fall of the Soviet Union.
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