HONG KONG (Reuters) -China’s civil aviation authority said on Sunday it has opened a third extension of the M503 flight route, which has for years been the subject of complaints from Taipei due to its position just west of an unofficial dividing line in the Taiwan Strait.
China last year moved the M503 route closer to the median line, drawing an angry response from Taipei, which said Beijing was trying to “package” civil aviation for political or military considerations to potentially change the strait’s status quo.
The opening of the W121 extension comes days before the annual Han Kuang military and civil defence drills that Taiwan holds to simulate a Chinese blockade and invasion of the democratic island.
The median line had for years served as an unofficial barrier between Chinese-claimed Taiwan and China, but China says it does not recognise its existence and Chinese warplanes now regularly fly over it as Beijing seeks to pressure Taipei to accept its sovereignty claims.
The Civil Aviation Authority of China said that “in order to further optimize the airspace environment and improve operational efficiency, from now on, civil aviation will use the W121 connection line of the M503 route.”
Taiwan’s China policy-making Mainland Affairs Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is the third extension after W122 and W123, which are to the south of W121, opened last year. All three go west to east, from mainland China in the direction of Taiwan.
“This measure is aimed at “ensuring flight safety, reducing flight delays, and protecting the rights and interests of passengers,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said.
It added that the opening was “beneficial” to both sides of the strait.
Taiwan, which is facing ramped-up military pressure from China, which considers the separately governed island as its own, begins its Han Kuang exercises on July 9 and they are set to last for 10 days.
(Reporting by Marius Zaharia; Additional reporting by Yimou Lee in Taipei; Editing by Saad Sayeed)
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