China’s civil aviation regulator said in its brief statement on Friday that those routes were now in operation, adding that from May 16 it would “further optimise” airspace around Fuzhou airport.
It did not elaborate but the date is four days before Taiwan President-elect Lai Ching-te is inaugurated, a man Beijing believes is a dangerous separatist. Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China but has been rebuffed.
China’s regulator added that the changes to the flight paths will help meet the “development needs” of flights along the Chinese coast, ensure flight safety, enhance the ability to respond to thunderstorms and improve normal flight operations.
Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration said the measure seriously impacted aviation safety in Taiwanese airspace, calling it a unilateral move taken without consultation.
At its nearest point, close to Kinmen, there is only a 1.1 nautical mile distance between the Chinese and Taiwanese flight paths, it said.
“The airspace between the two sides is very small, and there are certain risks,” it added.
CONTROLLED AIR SPACE
Taiwanese air traffic controllers will “strongly request” their Chinese counterparts guide any aircraft away when an aircraft approaches Taiwan’s air space, it said.
Chinese aircraft are not permitted by Taiwan to fly in the airspace Taipei controls around Kinmen and Matsu.
The strait’s median line had for years served as an unofficial demarcation between Taiwan and China and was not crossed by combat aircraft from either side.
But China says it does not recognise the line’s existence and Chinese warplanes now regularly fly over it as Beijing seeks to pressure Taipei to accept its sovereignty claims.
Flights to and from Taiwan and China’s Xiamen and Fuzhou take a circuitous route skirting the median line rather than flying directly across the strait. Domestic Taiwanese flights to Kinmen and Matsu fly directly across the strait.
Taiwan has complained about the M503 route before, in 2018, when it said China opened the northbound part of it without first informing Taipei in contravention of a 2015 deal to first discuss such flight paths.
The government of Taiwan rejects China’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide their future.
