Consensus was reached yesterday during a cross-strait meeting in Shanghai on Beijing’s four proposed new flight routes, with the Chinese agreeing to delay implementation of the most controversial route and temporarily freeze the others, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said.
Beijing’s announcement on Jan. 12 of the new routes just west of the Taiwan Strait’s median line — the M503 route, which would hug the median line, and three feeder routes — W121, W122 and W123 — that would connect with M503, aroused strong opposition in Taiwan.
There was widespread anger over Beijing’s unilateral move amid concern that it would infringe on the nation’s sovereignty and that the proposed routes, especially W122 and W123, could interfere with flights to Kinmen and Matsu.
The M503 route is only 7.8km from the median line.
The government also cited flight security issues in the event of bad weather and said the new routes might overlap with Taipei’s flight information region.
The flight paths were originally to go into operation on Thursday.
CAA Director-General Lin Tyh-ming (林志明) said that China has agreed to move the flight path of the M503 route 6 nautical miles (11km) to the west and to use it solely for one-way flights from north to south, with planes to be redirected to fly over the Chinese coast in case of emergencies.
Lin also said that the M503 flight path would only become official after China has conducted actual test flights of the path.
The Chinese adjustments to the flight path are understandable, but further negotiation should be held across the Strait, the CAA said.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) issued a statement in Beijing saying that it was certain that Taiwan understands more about the proposed flight routes and is fully cognizant of China’s goodwill after flight agencies from each side of the Taiwan Strait met to discuss the issue yesterday.
However, the press release made no mention of the TAO’s decision to delay implementation of the M503 flight route, as the CAA reported.
Beijing has said that the flight paths were “necessary for economic and social development as well as flight security.” It said its A470 flight path is so congested, raising concern about flight safety that it has been nicknamed the “Black Star” flight path by the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations, so the M503 is necessary, the Chinese government said.
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