Chinese warplane takes off during military exercises around Taiwan. AP.
Beijing decided on Wednesday to roll back plans for a temporary no-fly zone near Taiwan.
The
zone would have covered an area traversed by hundreds of aircraft and
would have blocked U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's scheduled
flight to Japan.
- Beijing informed other countries on Tuesday that it planned to enforce a no-fly zone near Taiwan between April 16 and 18.
- China said the fight restrictions were intended to allow the country to carry out "aerospace activities."
- NHK World reported that the airspace closure may be related to a satellite launch.
- China's no-fly zone would have overlapped with a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Japan.
- Blinken was scheduled to travel to the meeting from Vietnam, which would have taken him through the no-fly zone.
- Taipei said on Wednesday that the airspace closure is now scheduled to take place for only 27 minutes on Sunday.
- Beijing's announcement of the no-fly zone was viewed as an escalation of tensions following China's recent military exercises in the region.
