ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — Pakistan has closed its airspace to Taiwanese airlines in support of Beijing’s One-China policy, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said, in what Bloomberg described as the first such move by any country.
“The aviation division follows the One China policy — only mainland China is allowed,” Asif told Bloomberg News. “We have permitted only Chinese airlines to fly over Pakistan.”
Flights rerouted over Russia
Taiwan’s two main carriers, China Airlines and EVA Air, have not flown over Pakistan since the morning of October 25, according to Flightradar24 tracking data cited by Bloomberg. At least a dozen of their flights between Asia and Europe have instead crossed Russia since Sunday. Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration did not comment on the rerouting, but said it had never barred its airlines from flying over Russia.
An all-weather friendship
Pakistan regards Taiwan as an “inalienable part” of the People’s Republic of China and rejects any form of “Taiwan independence”, a position at the heart of its “all-weather” partnership with Beijing. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have both restated it, and Islamabad has opposed proposals to give Taiwan a role in bodies such as the World Health Organization.
The disclosure came a day after Pakistan and China launched an information corridor to counter what they call misleading narratives.
