The United States is concerned that several African countries revoked overflight clearances for Taiwan’s leader at China’s behest, the US State Department said on Wednesday, calling the incident an abuse of the international civil aviation system.
Taiwan this week said the Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar unilaterally revoked flight permits for leader William Lai Ching-te’s aircraft to cross airspace they manage on a planned trip to eSwatini, one of Taiwan’s allies.
It is the first instance of a Taiwanese leader having to cancel an entire foreign trip due to denial of airspace access, representing a new Chinese strategy as it steps up efforts to stifle the island’s efforts to engage internationally.
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“These countries are acting at the behest of China by interfering in the safety and dignity of routine travel by Taiwan officials,” a State Department spokesman said, without naming the African island nations.
The US official said those countries’ management responsibility of certain international airspace beyond their sovereign airspace was “solely to ensure aviation safety, not to serve as a political tool for Beijing”.
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“This is yet another case of Beijing waging its intimidation campaign against Taiwan and Taiwan’s supporters around the world, abusing the international civil aviation system, and threatening international peace and prosperity,” the official said.
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