China and Taiwan face a widening dispute over the scheduling of direct flights just weeks after signing a trade pact.
The dispute centers around the distribution of 50 flights, added to the schedule following cross-strait negotiations in May. China said 20 of the 50 new flights must be reserved for airports in Xiamen and Fuzhou as part of plans to develop its Strait West Special District.
With Taiwanese carriers already offering 30 flights to the two airports, Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said Taiwan was meeting that requirement.
Meanwhile, the CAA confirmed that flights added to Beijing and Shenzhen routes approved by China were all scheduled for very early in the morning, making it hard to find passengers. As a result, the inauguration of those services has been shelved, a CAA official said.
Taiwan’s top two carriers China Airlines and Eva Airways saw their shares fall this week because of the dispute, analysts said, adding that the flap could cool a climate of goodwill that has so far characterized most Taiwan-China deals, including the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) signed late last month.
Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) yesterday said he did not think the Ministry of Transportation and Communications had erred in the dispute.
Liu said that while the two sides agreed in principle, they had failed to put it in writing. He said it would take time to iron out the differences between the two sides.
Alexander Huang (黃介正), a strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taipei, has a different view.
“My sense is that with more trade, there will be more disputes,” he said.
“That’s a reality and it will happen again. Law enforcement and legal practice are different on each side,” he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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