China appears to have changed its plan to declare no-fly zone, says Taiwan

Taiwan claimed that China appears to have changed its plan of declaring a three-day no-fly zone in airspace near the north of Taiwan next week, decreasing the duration of the no-fly zone to just 27 minutes.

Taiwan’s defence ministry spokesperson, while addressing a press conference, said that the no-fly zone is at a distance of 85 nautical miles north of Taiwan.

The spokesperson said that China may be declaring a no-fly zone to conduct aerospace activities, like satellite launches.

As per Reuters, a Chinese official claimed that the air traffic would be significantly affected by the flight ban, disturbing the route of 60 to 70 per cent of flights flying between north-east and south-east Asia, along with flights which will be connecting Taiwan and South Korea, Japan and North America.

Later, Taiwan’s transport ministry claimed that China would confine the no-fly zone to a short period on Sunday after Taipei raised objections over its plans.

Originally, it was claimed that China will be declaring the no-fly zone from April 16 to 18.

On Monday, China announced the end of three-day military drills, which started as a retaliation to the meeting of Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the United States.

On Wednesday, Tsai said that her official trip to the United States showed Taiwan's commitment to defend its democracy, as the country's military plans to begin its own drills.

Tsai said that it is important for democracies to remain united while faced with “continued authoritarian expansionism.”

“Through this trip we again sent a message to the international community that Taiwan is determined to safeguard freedom and democracy which won acknowledgement and support from our democratic partners,” she said while speaking to visiting Canadian lawmakers at her office in Taipei.

As per reports, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is still carrying out military activity around Taiwan even after it formally announced an end to the military drills which continued from Saturday to Monday.

WATCH | Taiwan says it convinced China to rein in no-fly zone plan

Taiwan’s defence ministry stated that they detected 35 PLA aircraft and eight vessels around Taiwan on Tuesday. The drills were condemned by the political parties of Taiwan which accused Beijing of undermining the status quo and causing a “severe threat to regional peace and security.”

However, China remained defiant and called the military drills a successful demonstration. Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the armed forces “strengthen military training oriented towards actual combat” during his naval visit on Tuesday.

(With inputs from agencies)

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