Taiwan to ask allies to raise China flight route issue at ICAO meet: Source

Taipei, July 8 (CNA) Taiwan will ask its diplomatic and unofficial allies to raise China's decision to unilaterally launch a new flight route in the Taiwan Strait at the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) triennial assembly in September, a diplomatic source said Tuesday.

The move comes after China unilaterally announced Sunday that it would open the northwest-to-southeast W121 route connecting Dongshan in Zhejiang province to the north-south M503 flight route in the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan's top government agency in charge of China affairs, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), responded by urging China to promptly begin talks through existing channels on its unilateral decision to launch the W121 flight route.

Taiwan's Civil Aviation Administration also said China's decision was "regrettable" and that it would closely watch flights potentially affected to ensure flight safety.

Asked to comment, an unnamed source told reporters in Taipei on Tuesday that it was not the first time Beijing had acted unilaterally in establishing flight routes.

The diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters that ever since China launched the M503 route in 2015, Taiwan has been in close discussions with its diplomatic allies and friendly nations to speak on behalf of Taiwan.

"Every time China makes a unilateral decision in launching a flight path, Taiwan's government will launch a protest and convey its clear stance to ICAO via the help of allies and friendly countries, given that Taiwan is not a member of ICAO," the source said.

Taking the example of W122 and W123, two other west-to-east flight paths to the south of W121, they were opened at the same time as the M503 route was moved eastward in early 2024, and the United States, Canada, Japan, Sweden, and the Netherlands all expressed concern over Beijing's decision.

The source said they did so not just for Taiwan's interests but also for their own interests because Beijing has violated international rules that could put passenger safety at risk.

Despite the opposition, however, those routes remain functional, an indication that diplomatic pressure may be insufficient to sway Beijing, even if ICAO regulations require that the creation, reduction, or adjustment of flight routes be coordinated with the regions they pass through and relevant stakeholders.

With the 42nd Session of the ICAO Assembly set to take place in late September at ICAO Headquarters in Montreal, the source said Taiwan will again use the ICAO highest decision-making body meeting as a platform to convey its stance on the flight path issue.

Taiwan will also once again reiterate its call to be included in the ICAO system in order to contribute to international aviation safety, the source said.

Taiwan, officially named the Republic of China, has not been a United Nations member since losing its seat to the People's Republic of China in 1971, and is therefore not a member of the ICAO, a specialized agency of U.N.

Taiwan last attended the ICAO's triennial event as a guest of the president of the U.N. agency's council in 2013 against the backdrop of warming ties between Taiwan and China under Taiwan's previous Kuomintang (KMT) administration.

However, Taiwan has not been invited to subsequent ICAO assemblies after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party took office in 2016, when Taipei's relations with Beijing began to sour.