Canada-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group chairwoman Judy Sgro has invited group members to sign a letter asking the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to address Beijing’s unilateral changes to flight route M503.
China announced the changes at the end of last month, breaking its agreement with Taiwan that southbound flights on the flight route should operate 6 nautical miles (11km) southwest of the route.
It also said it would allow eastbound flights on the W122 and W123 flight paths, which the two sides had agreed not to launch before details of their implementation were confirmed.
Photo: Reuters
Representative to Canada Harry Tseng (曾厚仁), on behalf of the government, sent a letter to ICAO Council president Salvatore Sciacchitano on Wednesday last week, urging the organization to address the issue and provide timely support.
He also called on Canada and international society to pay close attention to the issue at a parliamentary briefing that Sgro held on Wednesday, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada said.
Tseng said Taiwan hoped that Canada would voice concerns about Beijing’s continued attempts to heighten tensions across the Taiwan Strait and its disregard for civil aviation safety, the office said.
Sgro said that the friendship group was collecting signatures from its members on a letter addressed to Sciacchitano to urge the organization to deal with the issue, it said.
Initiating a joint letter shortly after a single incident due to its urgency, importance and seriousness “is quite rare,” Tseng told the Central News Agency.
Although Taiwan is not a member of the ICAO and there is no precedent regarding the issue, the ICAO is likely to take some form of action, and at least discuss the incident internally, he said.
At the parliamentary briefing, Tseng also discussed the situation in Taiwan after its Jan. 13 presidential and legislative elections, the office said.
He spoke of how China claimed that the election results did not reflect public opinion, how it lured away Taiwan’s diplomatic ally Nauru, prevented Taiwan from hosting the Asian Men’s U20 Volleyball Championship this year and is considering suspending tariff concessions on more Taiwanese products, the office said.
Many Canadian lawmakers attending the briefing were very concerned about China’s interference and disinformation campaign during Taiwan’s elections, fearing that Beijing might do the same during Canada’s election, it said.
Tseng said that the scale and intensity of Chinese interference leading up to last month’s elections were greater than ever, including the use of artificial intelligence to spread rumors and vilify candidates on social media platforms, the office said.
Taiwan was able to deal with the issue, because of its vast experience in countering such disinformation, Tseng said, adding that its robust civil society also helped to verify suspicious information promptly.
The nation is willing to share its experiences with Canada and provide suggestions, he added.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS