Advertisement
Taiwanese plane lands in disputed Pratas Islands as scheduled after earlier turnback
- UNI Air flight drops off military and coastguard personnel in the South China Sea atolls, and takes others back to Kaohsiung
- It follows incident on October 15 when aircraft had to return to the city after being warned of ‘dangerous activities’ along the route
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
A Taiwanese aircraft carrying military and coastguard personnel has landed in the disputed Pratas Islands in the South China Sea after the airline was turned back by Hong Kong authorities 11 days ago.
The UNI Air flight left Kaohsiung International Airport at 8.35am on Monday, arriving in the Taipei-controlled territory, known as the Dongsha Islands in Chinese, at 9.44am, according to Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration.
“The flight took about 70 minutes and it was a smooth landing at the Pratas Islands,” said Lai Yu-chieh, the administration’s spokesman for the Pratas and Spratly islands.
Advertisement
The plane returned to the southern city of Kaohsiung at 11.39am with more military and coastguard personnel who were taking leave, Lai said.
He said the charter flight had departed and arrived on time, and he was not aware of any communication between the authorities in Taiwan and Hong Kong before the plane took off.
Advertisement
The atolls are located about 445km from Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan and about 300km from mainland China, but they fall within Hong Kong airspace. They are also claimed by Beijing, which regards Taiwan as part of its territory. Taiwan operates at least one flight a week to the islands, carrying government, military and coastguard personnel, but they are off-limits to ordinary travellers.
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x