Congressmen Cohen and Mast Lead 30 Members on Letter Regarding Taiwan Strait

WASHINGTON - Congressmen Steve Cohen (TN-9), the Ranking Member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation, and Brian Mast, a Member of the Subcommittee, today led 30 bipartisan Members of Congress in a letter to Salvatore Sciacchitano, President of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council, expressing concern over the People's Republic of China's (PRC) recent unilateral alteration of flight routes near Taiwan. The Members urged the ICAO to encourage the PRC to engage in immediate consultation with Taiwan in an effort to prevent a catastrophe.

The letter reads in part:

"We write to express our concern regarding recent actions by the People's Republic of China (PRC) to unilaterally alter the M503 flight route and expand operations on related flight paths without prior consultation with the Civil Aviation Administration of Taiwan. Such irresponsible action not only violates established international civil aviation protocols but also poses significant risks to the safety and stability of the region's airspace…

"Given recent tensions in Cross-Strait Relations, these changes by the CAAC are irresponsible and introduce unnecessary risk in the airspace over the Taiwan Strait. Because civilian air routes and military movements occur in similar regions, and because civilian aircraft may need to deviate from the nominal M503 flight path to reroute around weather or for other reasons, poor communication or misidentification of aircraft could have tragic consequences…

"We request that ICAO urge the PRC to immediately cease any unilateral actions that may jeopardize the safety and stability of the airspace in the Taiwan Strait region and to promptly engage in constructive consultation with Taiwan before tragedy strikes."

See the entire letter here.

The letter was cosigned by Representatives Allred, Armstrong, Brownley, Carson, Cherfilus-McCormick, Collins, Costa, Fry, Gimenez, Gottheimer, Green (TN), Houlahan, Kiggans, Lieu, Molinaro, Moore (UT), Moylan, Owens, Palmer, Rose, Salazar, Sánchez, Smith (NJ), Titus, Van Drew, Wagner, Waltz, Williams (NY), Wilson (FL), and Yakym.

# # #