In a brief announcement on January 30, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said that starting February 1, it would remove the “deviation” for flight path M503, which lies just west of the median line in the Taiwan Strait. This means that Chinese flights flying south in the Taiwan Strait will now come closer to the median line in the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan’s flight information region (FIR) and air defense identification zone (ADIZ), according to CNA.
Route M503 is mainly used by Chinese airlines and also foreign airlines with flights to and from cities like Shanghai to Southeast Asia.
Also in the new announcement, CAAC said it plans to start operating the W122 and W123 routes eastward, connecting the M503 route with the cities of Xiamen and Fuzhou, according to CNA. Xiamen and Fuzhou are close to the Taiwan-controlled islands of Kinmen and Matsu, which have regular flights to Taiwan.
Map showing the new locations of routes M503, W122 and W123
Civil Aeronautics Administration of Taiwan
In response, the CAA said the CAAC's new decision goes "blatantly against the consensus reached between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait in 2015".
Regarding the root of the problem, according to CNA, in 2015, China unilaterally announced the operation of flight route M503, located in the Shanghai Flight Information Region, but very close to the Taipei Flight Information Region, raising concerns about flight safety.
After negotiations with Taiwan, China at that time agreed to move the M503 flight path more than 11 kilometers west of the original plan, according to CNA.
As China prepared to move its flight path eastward again, Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) also issued a statement late on January 30, demanding that Beijing "immediately stop such irresponsible flight activities."
MAC believes that China's new flight routes scheduled to take effect from February 1 not only disregard aviation safety and show disrespect for Taiwan, but also demonstrate a deliberate intention to use civil aviation as a cover for political and possibly military intentions to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, according to CNA.
Chinese military helicopters fly over Pingtan Island in Fujian Province on August 4, 2022.
Meanwhile, China's Taiwan Affairs Office described the change as "routine" and aimed at helping ease pressure on airspace, according to Reuters.
The median line in the Taiwan Strait has for years served as an unofficial border between Taiwan and China, but China says it does not recognize the line's existence and Chinese fighter jets have frequently flown across it recently, according to Reuters.
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