In late June, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) unilaterally activated a new air route, designated W121, as an extension of the M503 flight route that it opened in the Taiwan Strait in 2015. Although framed as a routine civil aviation adjustment, the move is far from innocent. It reflects Beijing’s creeping encroachment on Taiwan’s sovereignty, with consequences that ripple well beyond the region, including to Canada.

WHY DOES CHINA DO IT AND WHY IT BOTHERS TAIWAN

According to Chen Binhua, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the PRC’s State Council, the activation of W121 flight route, which falls within the Shanghai Flight Information Region (FIR), is aimed at easing air traffic congestion caused by the increase of flights, which will ‘benefit the people of both sides.’ However, the stated rationale does not withstand scrutiny. W121 does not serve cross-Strait passenger flights. There are no civil aviation gains, only strategic and military ones: the route offers the PRC an avenue for rapid force mobilisation, seriously compressing Taiwan’s air defence depth and warning time.

As a member of the International Civil Aviation........

© iPolitics