China launches weather satellite as civilian flights change route to avoid Chinese-imposed no-fly zone

Taiwan said it expected around 33 flights to be affected by the no-fly zone

China has launched a weather satellite as civilian aircraft flying to the north of Taiwan altered their routes to avoid a Chinese-imposed no-fly zone.

Beijing had reportedly put the no-fly zone in place in the area, which routinely sees heavy civilian flight traffic, due to the possibility of falling rocket debris.

China’s Fujian Maritime Safety Administration issued a navigation warning on Thursday that “there may be falling rocket wreckage” between 9 am to 3 pm on 16 April, Taiwanese local news reported.

The no-fly zone was initially planned to be imposed from Sunday to Tuesday, but the period was later reduced to 27 minutes on Sunday morning after Taiwan protested, according to Taiwan’s transport ministry.

Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration said in a one-hour period from 9 am local time more than 30 flights had to change their routes, adding five to 10 extra minutes of flying.

Meanwhile, the weather satellite Fengyun 3G was successfully launched from the northwestern province of Gansu at 9:36 am, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation – the country’s main contractor for its space programmes – said.

The contractor said the Chinese low-earth orbit satellite, which was designed to track rainfall, entered its set orbit successfully.

While the flight path of the Long March 4B rocket carrying the satellite was not revealed, the launch coincides with China’s no-fly zone announcement.

Some debris from the rocket launch had fallen into the “warning zone” off Taiwan’s northern coast, the island’s defence ministry said, adding, however, that it did not affect its territorial safety.

In an earlier warning, China said ships would be banned from entering the area on 16 April.

The announcement came after China held large-scale military drills that formally ended Monday in response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen‘s transit visit to the US last week.

Data from Flightradar24 suggest flights to and from Taiwan and China, Taiwan and South Korea, as well as those to and from Taiwan and Japan, were among those detouring around the no-fly zone on Sunday, with normal flight paths seemingly resuming after 10 am.

However, China has called Taiwan’s claims an attempt to escalate confrontation across the Taiwan Strait.

China has claimed Taiwan as part of its own territory – a point of contention in Beijing’s relationship with Washington.

The US remains one of Taiwan’s biggest unofficial allies and sells the island weapons.

A number of US lawmakers have visited Taiwan over the past year as a show of support.