According to official reports from Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) and the Xiamen Airlines website, Fujian province, located in southeastern China and close to the island nation, implemented restrictions in its airspace today, Tuesday, August 2nd. The measure prompted the rescheduling and cancellation of a large number of flights.
The situation comes ahead of the possible visit of the speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to Taiwan. This Tuesday, the official completed a few hours visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from where she departed aboard a Boeing C-40 Clipper at 15:42 local time (7:42 GMT), according to flight tracking site Flightradar24.
The destination of the aircraft was not specified, adding to already existing tensions in the Taiwan Strait ahead of a possible visit by an American delegation to the island. Currently, the situation in Taiwan is one of the main points of conflict in the relations between China and the United States.
At around 11:00 am this Tuesday morning, Xiamen Airlines announced the rescheduling of thirty flights. Three hours later, the company had already rescheduled a total of fifty services, according to the list available on its official website.
Local sources confirmed that many flights were delayed for more than six hours. The restriction mainly affected operations between cities in northeast China and Fuzhou or Xiamen, in Fujian province.
This is a developing story
