China military drills' disruption of air travel had a purpose: Expert

Taipei, Jan. 2 (CNA) The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China's recent large-scale military exercises was no accident but rather the result of a "quasi-blockade" used to simulate creating air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said.

The disruptions occurred on Dec. 30 and lasted about 10 hours, as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan's Civil Aviation Administration said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers.

• PLA drills disrupt domestic and transiting flights in Taiwan: CAA

According to Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR), the air traffic disruption triggered by China's military drills served multiple purposes.

First, it simulated a quasi-blockade by shutting down some of Taiwan's international air routes, Su wrote in an article published on the INDSR's website on Dec. 31.

"The apparent objective was to demonstrate China's ability to impose a blockade and exert control over Taiwan, while converting travelers' inconvenience into public dissatisfaction with the government," he wrote.

Su said the exercises also tested the feasibility of establishing "joint domain control," a newly proposed People's Liberation Army (PLA) training concept that integrates sea control, air superiority and electromagnetic dominance.

Such integration is intended to secure sea lines of communication and air routes necessary for logistics and military sustainment during an eventual amphibious landing, he said.

Notably, Su said, while blocking most of Taiwan's air routes, China deliberately left open three routes -- M750, G587 and R583.

"This is believed to have been an exercise in establishing 'humanitarian corridors' to facilitate foreign evacuations during a blockade of Taiwan, signaling an attempt to project an image of control and negotiability," Su wrote.

While military exercises are not prohibited under international law, they are subject to multiple legal constraints, and China's quasi-blockade failed to comply with several established international practices, Su said.

Although China issued aviation notices and maritime warnings and claimed to avoid unnecessary interference, Su said, large-scale drills that amount to a "de facto blockade" seriously overstepped the boundaries of freedom of navigation and overflight.

In particular, he said the exercises violated the "advance notice principle" set out in Section 6.2.3 of Annex 15 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation on aeronautical information services.

That principle requires notices to be issued 28 days in advance to prevent sudden announcements that disrupt flight scheduling.

"The PLA exercises have clearly compromised the safety and freedom of navigation of Taiwan and neighboring countries, significantly affecting the economic interests and navigational rights of coastal states," Su wrote.

They also "contravened the legal principles and procedures of the United Nations Charter, international maritime law and international civil aviation law," he wrote.

Meanwhile, Lin Po-chou (林柏州), another INDSR researcher, said the latest exercises caused the most severe disruption to maritime and air traffic on record.

China's actions underscored a "hegemonic mindset" that disregards the international community's commitment to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Lin wrote in a separate article published Wednesday on INDSR's website.

"By responding to calls for peace with displays of force, China has further reinforced accusations that it is a 'disrupter of the international order,'" he wrote.

The PLA Eastern Theater Command announced the schedule and coordinates for the live-fire drills on Monday, just one day before the operation, and warned "irrelevant" vessels and aircraft not to enter five designated exercise zones.

In response, Taiwan's Civil Aviation Administration cancelled all 84 flights between Taiwan and the outlying Kinmen and Matsu islands and said 296 flights departing from Taiwan, 265 arriving in Taiwan, and 296 flying in Taiwan's airspace but not landing in Taiwan would be affected.

In the end, the routes of some of the aircraft flying through Taiwan's flight information region were adjusted, and the flights landing in or departing from Taiwan faced delays.