離開
進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 US politicians slam China’s flight move
US Representative Michael McCaul listens during a hearing with the House Committee on Homeland Security on Capitol Hill, Washington, on Tuesday. Photo: AFP
CROSS-STRAIT: US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul said that Beijing is attempting to change the ‘status quo’ with its unilateral alteration of the M503 flight path
By Yang Hsiao-ju, Chen Yu-fuand Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writer
China’s decision to unilaterally remove previously agreed restrictions on the M503 flight path escalated regional risk and threatens cross-strait stability, US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Chairman Ben Cardin said yesterday.
US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul said that with the move, the Chinese Communist Party （CCP） continues to threaten Taiwan and is attempting to unilaterally change the “status quo.”
On Tuesday, Beijing announced that it would no longer have southbound civilian flights stay 6 nautical miles （11.1km） west of the M503 route, and that eastbound flights on the W122 and W123 flight paths would commence.
Pundits and experts on cross-strait issues have read the move as an attempt to “blur” the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
Cardin said that the change was dangerous and provocative, and further highlighted that any threatening move Beijing conducts toward Taipei would only escalate tensions, undermine flight safety and threaten cross-strait stability.
Beijing’s move shows that the results of Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13 were not to its liking, Carding said, adding that the timing was “no coincidence.”
Cardin called for Beijing to backtrack from its statements and conduct dialogue with Taipei.
McCaul said that China sending its civilian planes closer to the median line on top of its strategy to have its military planes circumnavigate Taiwan are attempts to unilaterally change the “status quo.”
“We must stand with Taiwan and fight expansionism,” he said.
Separately, Mainland Affairs Council （MAC） spokesman Jan Jyh-horng （詹志宏） said that the CCP had only sent word that it was “going through” with the announcement shortly before it announced it.
Despite cross-strait talks on the issue in 2015, Beijing’s unilateral changes in 2018, and again on Tuesday, were notifications and not an invitation to discuss the matter, indicating that flight safety does not concern Beijing, Jan said.
Taipei cannot accept such a cavalier attitude on so dire an issue, he said.
Asked about Taiwan’s options if China was adamant about the commencement of the W122 and W123 routes, Jan said that the nation is concerned about travel safety, which is not an issue yet, as there is not heavy civilian air traffic through the region.
Asked if the government would enact countermeasures, Jan only said: “That is a step that we hope we will not have to take.”
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
