Vietnamese carriers have been advised to avoid flying near Taiwan for a few days as China conducts military exercises amid tensions with the United States over White House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
According to local media, Dinh Viet Thang, head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, received an official notice from Chinese authorities asking airlines operating in Asia to avoid flying near the island of Taiwan from 11 a.m. Thursday until Friday.
CAAV has advised Vietnamese airlines to change their flight routes.
“Airlines can still operate flights to Taiwan normally and can decide on their own to postpone or cancel flights if necessary,” Thang said, as per media reports.
Pelosi’s visit, also the highest level of US visits in more than two decades, infuriated China, and the communist country warned the US that it would “pay the price.”
Pelosi’s visit has heightened US-China tensions more than other members of Congress’ visits. Following Pelosi’s visit, the Chinese military announced the holding of live-fire naval exercises in the Taiwan Strait, which is seen as a move by the US to increase pressure on China over its claim on Taiwan, to which the Pentagon responded by sending an aircraft carrier to the South China Sea.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said yesterday that Pelosi’s version of democracy is “like nothing but a robe with lice crawling all over it which may look opulent from a distance, but could not stand close scrutiny.”
“We see the empty pledge and so-called strength of this type of democracy from what the US military has done in Iraq and Syria and from its retreat from Kabul,” she added.
China dispatched 27 aircraft to Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ), the island’s Defence Ministry said on Wednesday hours after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi left Taipei.
China, which claims Taiwan as its territory and opposes any interaction between Taiwanese officials and foreign governments, announced a number of military exercises around the island, issued a series of harsh statements, and summoned US Ambassador to Beijing Nicholas Burns to protest Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
Furthermore, China has decided not to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Cambodia.
Meanwhile, in Washington, US National Security spokesman John Kirby stated that there is “no reason for this visit to become a spurring event for a crisis or conflict”.
“China appears to be positioning itself to potentially take further steps in the coming days and perhaps over longer time horizons,” Kirby told reporters.
He warned provocations could include missiles launch in the Taiwan Strait or around Taiwan and large-scale breaches of Taiwan’s air defence identification zone by warplanes. He added that China might also make public statements similar to those made recently, claiming that the Taiwan Strait is not an international waterway.
