Pakistan briefly closed its airspace to Taiwanese cargo and passenger flights, Taiwan said Thursday, suspecting China of being behind the unprecedented move.
In April, the Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar revoked overflight permits for Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s flight to Eswatini, Taipei’s only African ally, forcing him to postpone the trip.
“We suspect definitely China was behind this,” Deputy Foreign Minister Chen Ming-chi told AFP after confirming that Pakistan had closed and reopened its airspace to Taiwanese airlines. “China Airlines and EVA received a notice from the Pakistan authorities that they will lift the ban, but only temporarily… till the end of the winter,” Chen said. “We condemn Pakistan and if China is behind this, I think that is a very bad practice to use its leverage over the countries in the Global South to do that,” Chen said. Chen said it was the first time a country had closed its airspace to Taiwanese commercial flights. “China now learned that this is could be a effective way to block our airspace access and therefore sort of further isolate Taiwan,” Chen said. Chen said “many like-minded” countries had assisted Taiwan over the airspace closure.
