Int'l travelers voice concern at Taoyuan airport amid China drills

Taoyuan, Dec. 30 (CNA) On the second day of China's latest large-scale military drills around Taiwan, the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) scheduled 10-hour live-fire exercises prompted concern among some international passengers landing at Taoyuan International Airport on Tuesday.

"We were worried about the plane being shot out of the sky," American tourist Dan told CNA after his flight from Okinawa in Japan landed at the airport on Tuesday morning.

In Taiwan to spend New Year's Eve in Taipei, the 53-year-old scientist said he had visited the country several times before, adding that while China often stages drills around Taiwan, the latest exercises were "a nuisance."

"It doesn't really seem to have much of an effect -- just a waste of time, more than anything else," he added.

Dan's wife Teresa said she was "pleasantly surprised" their flight was smooth and on time, after reading reports that some carriers might reroute flights -- a measure taken due to major airspace restrictions for live-fire drills scheduled from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Recounting how she kept "looking out the window" during the flight to see what was happening, Teresa said it could be "really dangerous" to have military activity in airspace with heavy passenger traffic.

Asked what might have prompted China to launch the drills, Teresa, who has lived in Okinawa for nine years, said she believed it could be linked to recent remarks by Sanae Takaichi, Japan's new prime minister.

On Nov. 7, Takaichi said China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan under its security laws, drawing a sharp rebuke from Beijing.

In the same vein, a Japanese tourist surnamed Someya told CNA that Takaichi's remarks might be seen as provocative to China, adding that Beijing may have stepped up its alert level as a result, referring to the two-day drills.

Someya also raised another possibility, saying the military exercises could be "a warning to people in Taiwan not to get too close to Japan."

Most flights arriving at Taoyuan International Airport on Tuesday morning were on time, including one taken by Renz Noveloso, who traveled with his family from the Philippines for New Year celebrations.

"We saw the photo on Facebook that it (the drills) was surrounding the entire island," Noveloso said. "We were worried that the flight was going to be delayed or that it was going to be halted mid-air."

Noting that his home country also has "a fair share of conflict with China," the 32-year-old researcher said it was worrying when "a bigger superpower exerts its influence on a smaller democratic country."

He said he hoped differences between Taiwan and China can be resolved diplomatically, while acknowledging the issue was "very complex, very complicated."