Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration said on Wednesday that China has not provided any information about a new airport expected to open next year less than 10 kilometers from a Taiwanese facility, sparking concerns over flight safety.
The new Xiang’an airport in the Chinese city of Xiamen lies just about 3 kilometers from Taiwan-controlled Kinmen islands where construction activity is clearly visible and audible from the Taiwan side.
Taiwan Seeks Information
In a written statement sent to Reuters, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced planning and coordination to ensure smooth operations and safety.
The administration has requested China, via existing liaison channels, provide planning information to assess the impact of Xiang’an airport on Kinmen airport, it said. However, it added, Chinese civil aviation authorities have yet to provide any details. Taiwan stressed that China has an obligation to ensure the new airport does not infringe on or affect its airspace.
Kinmen airport mostly offers domestic flights to other Taiwanese airports, but has occasional international charters.
China’s government refuses to speak to Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, saying he is a “separatist”.
Urges Coordination for Air Safety
Taiwan officials have raised concerns that China could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan that will be rolled out early next year, and see Xiamen’s airports as potential part of that plan.
Taiwan and China have clashed over flight safety around Taiwan’s offshore islands before, including over China’s opening of new flight routes in the sensitive Taiwan Strait that Taipei denounced as unilateral moves likewise made without consultation.
Taiwan has controlled the Kinmen and Matsu islands, which sit just off the Chinese coast, since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taipei in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists.
(With inputs from Reuters)
