Some airlines have cancelled flights to Taipei and rerouted others using nearby airspace that has been closed to civilian traffic during Chinese military exercises sparked by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.
China deployed scores of planes and fired live missiles near Taiwan on Thursday in its biggest-ever drills in the Taiwan Strait, set to run until noon, local time, on Sunday in six zones encircling much of the island.
It considers Taiwan to be part of its territory and has never renounced using force to bring it under its control.
The airspace involved is comparatively small, but the disruption is hampering travel between south-east and north-east Asia.
Korean Air Lines said it had cancelled flights between Seoul and Taipei on Friday and Saturday, and would delay a flight on Sunday due to the exercises.
Singapore Airlines said it had cancelled its Friday flights between Singapore and Taipei, due to "evolving airspace restrictions", and would continue to monitor the situation in case more adjustments were needed.
Japan's ANA Holdings and Japan Airlines are still operating flights to Taipei as normal, spokespeople for the airlines said, but are avoiding the affected airspace on those flights, as well as on routes to Hong Kong and South-east Asia.
On Thursday, Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways said its flights were avoiding designated airspace zones around Taiwan, in a move that could lead to more flying time for some flights.
Flight-tracking service FlightRadar24 showed other airlines, including Taiwanese carriers China Airlines Ltd and EVA Airways Cor, were still flying to and from the island as of Friday morning.
OPSGROUP — an aviation industry cooperative that shares information on flight risks — said the Chinese military exercises would affect major routes between south-east Asia and north-east Asia, leading to re-routings that could take longer and burn extra fuel.
The airspace involved, however, is minor in its impact on the global aviation industry compared to the decision by most airlines to bypass overflight of other places such as Russia, Ukraine, Afghanistan, North Korea, Iraq and Syria.
Avoidance of Russian airspace, for example, has led to a near-four-hour increase in flight times between Finland and Japan.
On Wednesday, Taiwan said it was negotiating with neighbouring Japan and the Philippines to find alternative aviation routes, the official Central News Agency reported.
US delays Minuteman III missile test
The White House condemned China's decision to launch live missiles near Taiwan as "irresponsible" and said it expects Beijing will continue to react in the coming days.
"China has chosen to overreact and use the Speaker's visit as a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait," national security spokesperson John Kirby told a media briefing.
"Beijing's provocative actions are a significant escalation and its long-standing attempt to change the status quo."
Mr Kirby also said the Biden administration had postponed a long-planned test of an Air Force Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile to avoid escalating tensions.
The US Air Force had planned to conduct the test launch this week, Mr Kirby said, but it will now be rescheduled for a date, without saying when exactly, in the near future.
Made by Boeing Co., the nuclear-capable Minuteman III is key to the US military's strategic arsenal.
It has a range of 9,660-plus kilometres and can travel at a speed of approximately 24,000 kph.
Approximately 400 of the missiles are located at air force bases in the US states of Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota.
While the missile test was postponed, Mr Kirby said, the US would continue its operations in the region around Taiwan.
"We will not be deterred from operating in the seas and the skies of the Western Pacific, consistent with international law, as we have for decades, supporting Taiwan and defending a free and open Indo-Pacific."
G7, ASEAN issue warnings over missiles
Foreign ministers of G7 countries and the High Representative of the EU have issued a statement, alleging that China's "escalatory response" to Ms Pelosi's visit to Taiwan risks "increasing tensions and destabilising the region."
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi rejected their statement, and chided them for ignoring the provocation that had come from the US side.
"It groundlessly criticises China for taking such measures, which are reasonable and legitimate steps to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity," Mr Wang said in a statement issued by his ministry.
Meanwhile, the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) called for maximum restraint in the Taiwan Strait, warning that tensions could lead to "open conflicts and unpredictable consequences".
"ASEAN stands ready to play a constructive role in facilitating peaceful dialogue between all parties," the bloc said in a statement as ASEAN hosted a meeting of 27 nations in Cambodia.
The bilateral meeting brought foreign ministers of China, the United States and Japan together in the same venue.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken refused to meet each other in Phnom Penh, while planned talks between Mr Wang and Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi were cancelled, with Beijing citing displeasure over a G7 statement urging it to resolve tension over Taiwan peacefully.
On Thursday, Mr Wang called Ms Pelosi's visit "manic, irresponsible and highly irrational", state-run CCTV reported.
Underlining the tension, Mr Wang arrived for ASEAN's gala dinner late in the evening then walked out of the venue just moments after.
In opening remarks to ASEAN counterparts, Mr Blinken said he recognised the Taiwan issue was on everyone's minds and stressed Washington's policy had not changed.
"We oppose any unilateral efforts to change the status quo, especially by force," he said.
Five missiles land in Japanese waters
Five of the missiles fired by China landed in Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone — off Hateruma, an island far south of Japan's main islands — Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi said.
Mr Kishi said that Japan protested the missile landings to China as "serious threats to Japan's national security and the safety of the Japanese people".
Japan's Defence Ministry also speculated that four missiles flew over Taipei, the capital city, crossing the mainland, according to a statement from its embassy in Washington DC that was posted on Twitter.
Taiwan's Defence Ministry did not deny the claim, saying that the flight path was "outside the atmosphere and is not harmful to the vast area on the ground it flies over".
The drills were prompted by a visit to Taiwan this week by Ms Pelosi and are intended to advertise China's threat to attack the self-governing island republic.
Along with its moves to isolate Taiwan diplomatically, China has long threatened military retaliation over moves by the island to solidify its de facto independence with the support of key allies, including the US.
China fired long-range explosive projectiles, the eastern theatre command of the People's Liberation Army — the ruling Communist Party's military wing — said in a statement.
It also said it had carried out multiple conventional missile launches in three different areas in the eastern waters off Taiwan.
An accompanying graphic on state broadcaster CCTV showed those occurred in the north, east and south.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen criticised the drills in a public video address, saying China "destroyed the status quo and violated our sovereignty" with its "irresponsible actions".
She urged China to be "reasonable and restrained".
ABC/Wires
