Mainland China tightens squeeze on Taiwan as new flight routes close to key dividing line add to pressure on air defences
- Beijing said it would send more civilian flights close to the Taiwan Strait’s median line after it altered one flight path earlier this month without consultation
- The move adds to the pressure on Taiwan’s air defences and could limit its scope to respond in the event of coming under attack
The two new routes are extensions of an existing controversial flight path that is just a few kilometres from the median line in the Taiwan Strait which unofficially separates the island and the Chinese mainland.
“The [routes] will be launched as soon as they are ready,” Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said on Wednesday.
Once launched, mainland planes could more easily stay over the line, a move analysts said would put more strain on the island’s air defences because of the need to distinguish between military and civilian planes and reduce the time available to respond to any attack.
Chieh Chung, a senior analyst at the National Policy Foundation, a think tank affiliated with Taiwan’s main opposition party Kuomintang, said the M503 route was just 7.8km (4.8 miles) from the median line at its closest point.