Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Tseng Dar-jen has condemned a new Chinese flight path days before it is set to enter operation.
Flight route M503 is one of four new flight routes that China has unilaterally designated. It has drawn protests from the Taiwanese government because the route comes within eight kilometers of the Taipei Flight Information Region. The government is concerned that the route could endanger Taiwanese aircraft and compromise Taiwan’s national security.
Tseng said that Taiwan could scramble military jets as a warning should aircraft flying along the route violate air control regulations. He also called China’s unilateral declaration of the new flight routes a contravention of civil aviation conventions.
Taiwan’s government has demanded talks on the new routes, but recent events such as the crash of TransAsia Airways flight 235 have kept officials on both sides of the Taiwan Strait busy. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council says that Chinese promises to shift the route four nautical miles to the west do not allay fears about the route’s impact on national security. Flight route M503 is scheduled to enter operations on March 5.
The foreign ministry has decided to appeal to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for help in resolving the issue.