The activation of flight path W121 would erode Taiwan’s ability to defend its airspace, a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China announced it would activate the route, which connects with flight path M503 along the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
The move is part of China’s efforts to “erode the Taipei Flight Information Region [FIR],” Institute for National Defense and Security Research research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said, adding that the FIR is important to Taiwan’s sovereignty and the management of its airspace.
Photo: Taipei Times
“Flight path M503 is just 6 nautical miles [11.1km] from the median line of the Taiwan Strait. If an aircraft were to deviate from the path due to weather or mechanical issues, Taiwan’s air traffic controllers would have only about 30 seconds to respond,” he said. “This poses a risk to civilian aviation on both sides.”
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its Taiwan Affairs Office have long refused to recognize the significant of the strait’s median line, Su said.
Although the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) does not officially recognize Taiwan, the existence of the Taipei FIR has long served to symbolize Taiwan’s de facto sovereignty and authority to manage its airspace, he said.
“According to a 2015 report by then-Chinese premier Li Keqiang [李克強], 56 percent of China’s airspace remains unused,” Su said. “Therefore, the creation of M503 and the connecting routes appear to be deliberate actions to infringe upon Taiwan’s airspace.”
China established route M503 in 2015, made it bidirectional in 2018 and added connecting routes W121, W122 and W123 last year and this year, he said.
“These moves follow other ‘gray zone’ tactics by China, including harassment using military aircraft, warships and coast guard vessels,” Su said. “Taiwan should demand accountability from China and push for dialogue on the Taipei FIR, as well as raise the issue internationally.”
“This situation highlights the necessity and legitimacy of Taiwan joining the ICAO,” he added.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) said route M503 pushes civilian air traffic right up to the frontlines in the Taiwan Strait.
“China is engaging in ‘gray zone’ warfare under the guise of fulfilling civil aviation needs,” he said.
DPP Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) said the government should promptly seek to engage in dialogue with Beijing.
“Otherwise, pro-China groups in Taiwan would attempt to create the narrative that the DPP administration refuses to communicate with Beijing,” he said. “This would exacerbate the situation by combining cognitive warfare with these ‘gray zone’ tactics, putting the administration at a disadvantage.”
Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Lin Yi-chun (林憶君) said that the new flight routes were moves by China to assert dominance over the Taiwan Strait and that it highlights a lack of meaningful cross-strait interaction since President William Lai (賴清德) took office.
China’s motives were evident in the addition of three connecting routes to M503, despite no real increase in air traffic, Lin said.
“Every new route established by Beijing adds another layer of risk to Taiwan’s airspace,” she said.
The government should actively seek to engage in dialogue with China, confirm the necessity and motivations behind the new route and push for the westward shift of the M503 route, the best scenario, to achieve peaceful cross-strait interaction, she said.
Additional reporting by Lin Che-yuan
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS