It’s not only in the disputed waters of South China Sea that China is flexing its muscle. It is also making troubling moves in Taiwan Strait.
But the big difference is, while the Philippine leadership acquiesces with nary a whimper amid China’s militarization of the seven reefs it had transformed into artificial islands in the disputed waters of Spratlys, Taiwan is protesting what it says is China’s violation of a 2015 agreement not to use the flight route that divides them.
A statement from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines states: “On Jan. 4, Taiwan government protested mainland China’s unilateral launch the northbound M503 flight route in the Taiwan Strait and the W121, W122, and W123 east-west extension routes.