Pakistan's U-turn on restricting Taiwanese airlines from its airspace attracts attention

Islamabad/Taipei: Pakistan's U-turn on imposing restrictions on Taiwanese flights, followed by the restoration of overflight permissions, has once again drawn attention to the intersection of diplomatic policy, regional relations and international aviation, a report has detailed.

Earlier this week, Pakistan prevented two Taiwanese airlines from accessing its airspace, reportedly in line with Beijing's 'One China' policy. However, the restriction was short-lived, with Islamabad restoring overflight rights for Taiwanese flights within hours, reported 'Page3news', a multilingual worldwide newspaper based in Thailand.

The development on Wednesday, it said, had attracted attention as Pakistan became the first country reported to have imposed such restrictions on the two Taiwanese carriers before reversing its decision.

"Taiwan, meanwhile, raised concerns over the reported restrictions, suggesting that China could have influenced Islamabad’s decision. Taiwan's Deputy Foreign Minister Chen Ming-chi described the move as one that could send a dangerous message to the international community. However, he did not present evidence to substantiate the suggestion of Chinese involvement," the report mentioned.

Citing various reports, Taipei Times reported that Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee said that the Cabinet "deeply regretted" Pakistan's brief closure of its airspace to Taiwanese airlines.

"We deeply regret Pakistan's behavior, including pandering to China by compromising flight safety, disregarding international rules and reality, undermining our national sovereignty, and politicizing and weaponizing airspace," Lee was quoted as saying by the newspaper when asked about the issue at a Cabinet news conference this week.

Leading Pakistani daily 'Dawn' quoted country's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif telling Bloomberg News that Islamabad had permitted only Chinese airlines to fly over Pakistan.

"The aviation division follows the 'One China policy' — only mainland China is allowed," said Khawaja Asif.

Citing flight-tracking data, the report mentioned that Taiwanese carriers rerouted flights and did not fly over Pakistan between October 25 to 28.

Dawn reported that Taiwanese airlines China Airlines Ltd and Eva Airways Corp, which operated at least a dozen flights between Asia and Europe flying over Russia between October 25-28, have now been granted permission to operate flights from October 28 to March 27, 2027 by the Pakistani authorities.

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