Pakistan closes its airspace to airlines from Taiwan, citing ‘One China’ policy

Pakistan, a close ally of China, has become the first country in the world to close its airspace to Taiwanese airlines in support of the ‘One China’ policy. Pakistan confirmed the decision on Wednesday following reports that Taiwanese carriers had begun taking longer routes to avoid its airspace.

“The aviation division follows the One China policy — only mainland China is allowed,” Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told Bloomberg News on Wednesday. “We have permitted only Chinese airlines to fly over Pakistan.”

Pakistan’s action is the first reported instance of a country closing its airspace to Taiwanese carriers due to Beijing’s One China policy, under which it considers Taiwan an inalienable part of its territory.

The decision came to light after aviation observers noticed that some Taiwanese flights have been taking longer routes, flying entirely over Russia to reach Europe since the weekend.

On 24 October, a China Airlines flight from Taipei travelled to Rome through Russian airspace, avoiding its previous route through India, Pakistan and Turkmenistan, according to Flightradar24 data.

Pakistan was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China in 1951 and has since maintained close political, economic and strategic ties with Beijing, describing their relationship as an “all-weather” partnership.

Unlike the United States and several other countries that maintain unofficial relations with Taiwan, Islamabad has limited engagement with Taipei and firmly opposes Taiwanese independence.

In January, the Pakistan foreign office described Taiwan as an “inalienable part” of China and reiterated its commitment to the One China principle.

Taiwan rejects Beijing’s ‌sovereignty claims and enjoys de facto independence even if that is not formally recognised by most countries.

Currently, only 12 countries maintain formal ties with Taipei, mostly small developing nations such as Belize and Tuvalu.

Taiwanese airlines already cannot overfly mainland China for political reasons.