Taiwan to speak up if Japan interferes with Taiwanese aircraft
ROC Central News Agency
2013/12/03 18:49:37
Taipei, Dec. 3 (CNA) Taiwan will express its deep concerns to Japan if Japanese authorities interfere with Taiwanese civilian aircraft flying through an area where the two countries' airspace zones overlap, an official said Tuesday.
'If our Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) notifies us of such a case, we will immediately hold serious consultations with Japan' and ask it to refrain from such actions, said Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Anna Kao at a news conference Tuesday.
Kao's remarks came a day after CAA Director-General Shen Chi revealed that civilian aircraft from Taiwan have been harassed by Japan's Air Self-Defense Force in an area where the two countries' airspace zones overlap.
Shen said the CAA notified the Foreign Ministry of the incidents.
But asked on Tuesday how many such cases were reported to the ministry, Kao said she did not have the information at hand, but stressed there have been no such cases so far this year.
In 2009, 15 Taiwanese flights flying on an air route designated B591, which stretches from Taipei to northeastern China through the overlapping zones, seemed to have been intercepted by Japanese defense craft, Shen said later Monday, citing CAA information.
Between September 2010 and April 2011, 17 Taiwanese civilian aircraft faced interference from Japanese Self-Defense Force radio waves, she said, and similar incidents happened between April 2012 and the following month.
The incidents occurred where Japan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) and Taiwan's flight information region overlap, between 123 degrees and 124 degrees longitude.
The issue arose when Shen first revealed the Japanese maneuvers at a hearing held by the Legislature's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday on China's recent demarcation of its own ADIZ in the East China Sea.
(By Elaine Hou)
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