The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday criticized a China-based Taiwan business association and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for opposing the government’s cancelation of additional flights for the Lunar New Year holiday in response to Beijing’s unilateral activation of controversial flight routes.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) on Thursday announced that it would hold off on giving the green light to 106 additional flights by China Eastern Airlines Corp and 70 by XiamenAir for the holiday due to concerns triggered by Beijing’s unilateral opening on Jan. 4 of the northbound M503 route and extension routes W121, W122 and W123.
Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland members, including its director, Wang Ping-sheng (王屏生), criticized the decision, saying it would sacrifice the rights of Taiwanese businesspeople in favor of cross-strait confrontation.
The DPP issued a statement urging the association against aligning itself with Beijing and criticizing the Taiwanese government.
“The association should appreciate the importance of flight safety instead of allowing itself to be taken hostage by Beijing and pushing the blame on Taiwan’s government,” the DPP said.
China Eastern and XiamenAir were denied the request to create additional flights due to their failure to comply with the CAA’s prohibition against using the routes, while the government encouraged other Chinese airlines to increase cross-strait flights during the holidays to minimize effects, DPP spokesman Lin Tsung-sheng (林琮盛) said.
“Beijing should not make Taiwanese businesspeople into political victims to create domestic conflict in Taiwan,” Lin said.
Lin also criticized the KMT for aligning itself with Beijing in slamming the CAA’s decision, even though it supported cross-strait negotiations over the M503 route when Beijing first introduced it during former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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