The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns.
Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side.
In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced planning and coordination to ensure smooth operations and safety.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
It said it has asked China, via existing liaison channels, to provide planning information to assess the impact of Xiangan airport on Kinmen airport.
“However, Chinese civil aviation authorities have not provided any information to us to date,” it added.
“China has an obligation to ensure that the newly built Xiamen Xiangan airport will not affect our airspace,” it said. “Prior communication and coordination are the first step to ensuring safety, and the Civil Aviation Administration calls on the Chinese air traffic control authorities to begin discussions with us promptly.”
Neither China’s Taiwan Affairs Office nor the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration immediately responded to requests for comment.
Kinmen airport mostly offers domestic flights, but has occasional international charters.
The Chinese government refuses to speak to President William Lai (賴清德), saying he is a “separatist.”
Officials have raised concerns that China could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan that would be rolled out early next year, and see Xiamen’s airports as potential part of that plan.
Taiwan and China have clashed over flight safety around outlying islands before, including over China’s opening of new flight routes in the Taiwan Strait that the government denounced as unilateral moves likewise made without consultation.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
RSS