China’s unilateral decision to alter its M503 flight path is an attempt to put pressure on Taiwan’s air defenses and is an act of “legal warfare” to further isolate Taiwan internationally, experts said on Tuesday.
National Policy Foundation associate research fellow Chieh Chung (揭仲) said that Beijing’s announcement imposes constraints on Taiwan’s air defense strategies and reduces air force response times.
It was a unilateral move that attempts to negate the existence of the median line and undermine the legality of Taiwan’s designation of restricted airspace, Chieh said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Institute for National Defense and Security Research fellow Shen Ming-shih (沈明室) said that Taiwan would be under greater pressure to keep an eye on regional air traffic, as it would now have to monitor Chinese military and civilian planes in addition to planes accessing Taiwan.
“The Chinese Communist Party has essentially erased the ‘gray area’ between war and peace,” Shen said.
The move was an apparent response to the results of last month’s presidential election, he said.
Defence International editor-in-chief Chen Kuo-ming (陳國銘) said that the move was aimed at the incoming administration of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) and there would be other such actions before Lai is inaugurated on May 20.
The chances of the M503 flight path facilitating a possible hostile takeover of Taiwanese airfields are slim, as China has limited air-drop capabilities and Taiwan’s military has the means to act against such an incursion, Chen said.
China has stated that the move was “to alleviate growing pressure on regional flights,” which is a civilian transportation issue, he said, adding that Taiwan’s civilian flight authorities should look into how to respond.
A Voice of America report cited Council on Foreign Relations researcher David Sack as saying that the move is a “legal warfare” ploy targeting Taiwan and that the Chinese government’s attempt to remove Taiwan’s legal presence was worrying.
The US and allies Japan and Australia could help integrate Taiwan into regional trading systems, and encourage interactions between Taipei and other countries with which it does not have official diplomatic relations to counter China’s ploy, Sack said.
Most importantly, Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities must be bolstered to reduce the military threat from Beijing, he said.
Chaoyang University of Technology Department of Aviation Technology associate professor Alex Lu (盧衍良) said that setting aside political issues, the M503, W122 and W123 flight paths considerably overlap with airspace used by Taiwan.
Given flight safety considerations and the spirit of document 9426 of the International Civil Aviation Organization, both sides should seek dialogue and to understand how each other operates to minimize the risk of planes passing close to, or crashing into, each other, Lu said.
SCENARIOS: A potential conflict with Beijing would not be similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China would target energy and food supplies, a researcher said China is likely to continue using economic and cyberoperations against Taiwan to force it to capitulate without resorting to a military attack, Fox News reported yesterday, citing the outcome of a tabletop exercise. Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) earlier this month held a tabletop exercise in Taipei focusing on Beijing’s use of economic and cybercoercion against Taiwan. The FDD mentioned an “anaconda strategy,” in which Beijing would likely use cyberwarfare and disinformation campaigns followed by a blockade or other measures to strangulate Taiwan, rather than attempting an invasion, the report said. A large-scale cyberattack would be
HSINCHU CASES: Five people among 35 who were reported being sick were still in hospital after eating at a vendor in a market in Jhubei, the local health agency said Thirty-five people have sought medical treatment for acute symptoms after allegedly eating banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) from a vendor in Jhubei City (竹北), the Hsinchu County Public Health Bureau said yesterday. The bureau said that since Saturday, it has received several reports of suspected food poisoning from hospitals. The vendor has been ordered to temporarily suspend its business, it said, adding that tests were being conducted to determine whether the people had food poisoning, with results expected in about two weeks. A preliminary investigation showed that the people who sought treatment had recently eaten banh mi at a vendor at a retail market
GOOD MODEL: Speaking at his book launch, Law said that Taiwan is the most democratic Chinese-speaking country, which is why Hong Kongers relocated here China has suffocated Hong Kong’s civil society and its next target could be Taiwan, Nathan Law (羅冠聰), cofounder of the disbanded pro-democracy Hong Kong political party Demosisto, said in Taipei yesterday. Law made the remarks at a launch in Taipei for his book When the Wind Blows — the Struggles for Freedom of Hong Kong (時代推著我們前行:羅冠聰的香港備忘錄). Law has been living in the UK since he fled Hong Kong in 2020, and the book is about his fighting for the cause of freedom in the area. He was granted political asylum in 2021. “Fleeing is a long and distressing process, but it also
IMITATING OTHERS? Tsai Ing-wen’s office said the former president rents a commercial unit for her personal office and had never used election funds to purchase real estate Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday confirmed that he used about NT$43 million (US$1.35 million) from his presidential election subsidy to purchase an office unit near the Legislative Yuan in May. Ko made the remarks after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) earlier in the day told a news conference that she received a tip-off that the TPP chairman had purchased a 48.76 ping (161.2m2) office unit at Jinan Building (濟南大樓), a commercial building in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District (中正). Lin said that Ko purchased the unit on May 10, paying about NT$43 million in cash,