China is setting up a brief no-fly zone north of Taiwan for April 16 citing “space activities”, news agencies Reuters and AFP reported. The announcement comes days after China completed three days of massive war games around Taiwan where it carried out simulations of a possible invasion and also practised a blockade of the island.
Taiwan’s transport ministry told the AFP that the no-fly zone did not appear to be linked to the drills and added that China’s restriction was because of “convergence areas of many international routes to restrict flights on the grounds of ‘space activities’”.
They said that the restrictions will be placed for close to half an hour from 9:30 am to 9:57 am (local time) on Sunday. It earlier revised the three-day closure but later revised it after Taipei objected to the restriction.
“This unreasonable designation will bring huge and unnecessary flight risks to the region, and damage the rights and interests of international aviation,” the Taiwanese transport ministry said.
The Japanese government also said that they were notified of the three-day no-fly zone.
“Chinese authorities notified us of the designation of an area that may affect the safety of aircraft flights for aerospace activities from April 16 to 18,” Hirokazu Matsuno, Japan’s top government spokesperson, was quoted as saying by the AFP.
Yan Yu-hsien, deputy chief of general staff for intelligence at Taiwan’s defence ministry, confirmed that the “no-fly zone” referred to in an earlier report would be within Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ), located about 85 nautical miles north of the island’s shores. An ADIZ is a designated area of international airspace that countries can identify and monitor as part of their national airspace.
Meanwhile, Taiwan expressed concern after the nation’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that Chinese warships and aircraft were still present around the island, a day after Beijing announced the conclusion of its large-scale military exercises.
China’s display of military might near Taiwan came after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen met with the US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, an act Beijing had warned would lead to retaliation.
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