European lawmakers raise concerns over China's pressure on Lai's flight

Berlin and Rome, April 24 (CNA) Several lawmakers from Germany and Italy on Friday raised concerns over China applying pressure on three African countries to revoke overflight rights for Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) flight, which led to the cancellation of his planned trip to ally Eswatini this week.

On Tuesday, less than one day before Lai would kick off his trip to Taiwan's sole African diplomatic ally Eswatini, the Presidential Office announced it was forced to suspend the visit, citing "economic coercion" by China, with overflight rights revoked by Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar -- nations along the flight path of Lai's chartered plane.

On his Facebook page, German parliamentarian Klaus-Peter Willsch said the cancellation of Lai's trip due to the revoked overflight rights is a "clear evidence of China's growing political pressure, even in international air travel."

As the chair of the parliamentary group in charge of aviation and aerospace matters in Germany, Willsch said when flight rights are denied for geopolitical reasons, it is a direct attack on the Chicago Convention.

The Chicago Convention, signed in 1944, lays out the rules for airspace, aircraft registration, and safety, security, and sustainability, and elaborates the rights of the signatories in terms of air travel.

"Flight rights are not political pressure," Willsch said. "Whoever instrumentalizes them jeopardizes safety, stability, and trust in global aviation."

"For years, Taiwan has also been subjected to targeted pressure in air traffic, through influence and political harassment of the red Chinese leadership in Beijing," he added. "As a lighthouse of democracy and an essential partner in international aviation, I have repeatedly advocated for Taiwan's inclusion."

In Italy, lawmaker Alessandro Cattaneo, who visited Taiwan in January, voiced his support for Taiwan on his X account, saying he was standing with Taiwan.

"When political pressure dictates who can fly and who cannot, it's not just a flight that's blocked: it's diplomacy that's undermined," Cattaneo said. "What happened on the route to Eswatini is a serious precedent."

In an X message, Fabrizio Benzoni, another Italian lawmaker, expressed his solidarity with Lai.

"A worrying episode that raises doubts about respect for international rules and diplomatic freedom. Taiwan must be able to dialogue with the world without interference," Benzoni said.

For her part, Italian parliamentarian Isabella De Monte said the move to block Lai's flight to eSwatini was a coercive act, undermining international relationships, and an attempt to isolate Taiwan, a democracy, and prevent it from speaking out on the world stage.

In Taipei, the German Institute Taipei and the Bureau Français de Taipei, the de facto embassies of Germany and France in Taiwan, said that overflight rights constitute a fundamental aspect of international civil aviation.

In their separate statements, the two offices emphasized that the two countries attach great importance to maintaining safe, orderly and predictable civil aviation operations, in accordance with the Chicago Convention.