Taipei – Pakistan briefly closed its airspace to Taiwanese cargo and passenger flights, Taiwan said Thursday, suspecting China of being behind the unprecedented move. China Airlines and EVA Air, which are both based in Taiwan, normally fly over Pakistan on their Asia-Europe route. Last weekend, however, they began rerouting their Europe-bound flights further south over the Gulf or further north over Russia, analysis of flight tracking data shows.
Neither airline would confirm that Pakistan had closed or reopened its airspace when contacted by AFP. Chen said it was the first time a country had closed its airspace to Taiwanese commercial flights. 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.
At the time, Taiwan blamed “intense pressure” from China for the revocation. Taiwan does not have formal diplomatic ties with Pakistan, which has close relations with China. Chen said “many like-minded” countries had assisted Taiwan over the airspace closure.
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