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Protesters, police clash in Taiwan over China flight route

Thursday, 26 March 2015 1:59 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 26 March 2015 1:58 PM ]

Pro-Taiwan independence activists are forced out of the lobby of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) by police during a protest in Taiwan’s capital city of Taipei, March 26, 2015. © AFP

Taiwanese protesters have clashed with police ahead of China’s launch of a controversial flight route, which they say constitutes a potential air defense threat.

Around 40 protesters entered the headquarters of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) – the top China policy-making body – in the capital city of Taipei on Thursday.

Protesters scuffled briefly with police before being forced outside where they waited for a MAC representative to accept a protest letter.

Police said they did not make any arrests during the incident.

Taiwan has slammed as “unacceptable” the new flight route, saying it poses a potential air defense threat.

“The Chinese side unilaterally drew up the M503 route and the MAC failed to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty to agree to it. We demand M503 be retracted as it posts security concerns for Taiwan,” said protest spokesman, Lin Yu-lun.

Under the new route, aircraft will fly from China’s coastal province of Zhejiang and the cities of Fuzhou and Xiamen in Fujian Province over the Taiwan Strait.

The route is planned to be launched on March 29, with Chinese authorities saying the airways would ease traffic on an existing flight path. The MAC has also said Chinese fighter jets will not use the routes.

The route was originally set to launch on March 5, but was postponed due to ongoing negotiations.

Taiwan split from China in 1949 after a civil war, but Beijing says it expects a reunion even by force.

Cross-strait ties improved since Ma Ying-jeou from the China-friendly Kuomintang party came to power in Taipei in 2008. He was reelected in 2012.

Chen Deming, the president of China’s quasi-official Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, visited Taipei last December in a bid to enhance Beijing’s growing political and economic ties with Taipei.

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