Beijing yesterday reduced a flight restriction period it announced within the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) from three days to less than 30 minutes following protests from Taiwanese civil aviation officials, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
The Chinese Civil Aviation Administration on Tuesday notified the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) that it would set up a flight restriction zone within the Taipei FIR to engage in “aeronautic activities” between 9am and 2pm from Sunday to Tuesday next week, the ministry said.
The notice was sent only one day after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army ended military exercises around Taiwan. China launched the drills after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) met with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California on Wednesday last week.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications
Taiwan regulates the air traffic inside the Taipei FIR, which is a hub for northbound and southbound flight routes in East Asia and a main gateway to the northwest Pacific, the ministry said.
“However, China unilaterally set up a flight restriction zone spanning multiple flight routes within the Taipei FIR over three days. Not only is the move unprecedented in the international community, but it would also disrupt flight management in the region and affect flight safety,” it said.
The ministry notified Chinese officials that “such a unilateral and unreasonable move will pose tremendous and unnecessary flight risks, and affect international flights passing through the region.”
It said it protested the move and asked Chinese officials to change their plans.
China yesterday notified Taiwan that its aeronautic activities had been rescheduled to between 9:30am and 9:57am on Sunday, the ministry said.
Reuters reported that Beijing has told Seoul that a falling object related to a launch vehicle is set to land north of Taiwan in a 27-minute window on Sunday, citing a South Korean official.
“As a responsible member of the international community, we will coordinate with civil aviation officials in other countries to make necessary adjustments to flight routes and ensure flight safety,” it said.
The ministry also showed on a map the area where the aeronautic activities would be held.
The Ministry of National Defense said the area is about 85 nautical miles (157km) off the north coast of Taiwan.
A Reuters report estimated that Beijing’s decision could affect 60 to 70 percent of flights between East Asia and Southeast Asia.
EVA Airways and China Airlines said they would follow instructions from the CAA and adjust their flight routes if necessary.
Taoyuan International Airport Corp said it is monitoring flight control information and has reserved aircraft parking space in case of an emergency.
The coast guard on Friday took a Chinese fishing boat and the 17 people on board into custody, after it rammed into a patrol boat while attempting to flee. A 100-tonne coast guard vessel at about 8am discovered a Chinese fishing boat illegally operating in waters about 11 nautical miles (20.4km) northwest of Hsinchu, the Hsinchu offshore flotilla of the Coast Guard Administration said. The crew refused to allow law enforcement to board the ship and attempted to flee, it added. The coast guard vessel and another ship chased the fishing boat for about a half hour, during which time the Chinese boat
Vice President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that Beijing was trying to “annex” Taiwan, while China said its recent series of drills near Taiwan are aimed at combating the “arrogance” of separatist forces. The Ministry of National Defense earlier this month said that it had observed dozens of Chinese fighters, drones, bombers and other aircraft, as well as warships and the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong, operating nearby. The increased frequency of China’s military activities has raised the risk of events “getting out of hand” and sparking an accidental clash, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said last week. Asked about the spurt
China’s Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong has asked foreign consulates in Hong Kong to submit details of their local staff, which is more proof that the “one country, two systems” model no longer exists, a Taiwanese academic said. The office sent letters dated Monday last week to consulates in the territory, giving them one month to submit the information it requires. The move followed Beijing’s attempt to obtain floor plans for all properties used by foreign missions in Hong Kong last year, which raised concerns among diplomats that the information could be used for
‘ABNORMITY’: News of the military exercises on the coast of the Chinese province facing Taiwan were made public by the Ministry of National Defense on Thursday Taiwan’s military yesterday said it has detected the Chinese military initiating a round of exercises at a bay area in coastal Fujian Province, which faces Taiwan, since early yesterday morning and it has been closely monitoring the drills. The exercises being conducted at Fujian’s Dacheng Bay featured an undisclosed number of People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) warplanes, warships and ground troops, the Ministry of National Defense said in a press statement. The ministry did not disclose what kind of military exercises are being conducted there and for how long they would be happening, but it did say that it has been closely watching
RSS