China denies imposing a no-fly zone north of Taiwan

Notwithstanding Taipei’s claims that Beijing informed it that China would establish a no-fly zone over the waters north of Taiwan on Sunday, China denied imposing one on Friday.

Beijing reportedly informed Taipei it would enforce a no-fly zone from April 16 to April 18; however, Taiwan’s transport ministry later said that when Taipei objected, the no-fly zone was only in place for 27 minutes on Sunday morning.

Wang Wenbin, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, appeared to dispute the assertion in comments made at a routine press conference.

“The no-fly zone was not established by the Chinese side, as was claimed in earlier reports, which I have noted to be false. Measures to guarantee flight safety will be put in place by the appropriate authorities, says Wang.

Whenever there are any space operations, the Chinese civil aviation authorities will notify and provide warnings, according to Wang.

Yet, Taiwan has already sent out a notification to airmen for Sunday morning pilots that says, “Airspace prohibited due to aerospace aircraft activities.”

In addition to others, the region has busy air routes between Taiwan, South Korea, and China.

A likely launch of rocket debris was predicted to occur in the East China Sea on April 16 between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. (0100 GMT and 0700 GMT), according to China’s maritime safety bureau, which also issued a commercial vessel prohibition in the region.

As the Chinese military conducted drills over Taiwan, which the bigger neighbour claims as its own territory, the airspace was disrupted amid regional unrest.

(Reuters)