Pakistan's Defense Minister Hafizullah Chaudhry told Bloomberg News on October 28 that Pakistan's aviation sector adheres to the one-China principle, allowing only airlines from the Chinese mainland to operate in the country.
To support the principle of one China, Pakistan has closed its airspace to airlines from Taiwan, China. Bloomberg reports that this is the first country in the world to take such a measure.
According to the British newspaper The Independent, aviation experts have noticed that since last weekend, some flights from Taiwan, China to Europe have begun using longer routes, with all of those routes passing through Russian airspace.
According to Flightradar24, a flight tracking website, on October 24th, a China Airlines flight departing from Taipei for Rome flew over Russian airspace, abandoning the original route that passed through India, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan.
Pakistan has repeatedly stated that it firmly adheres to the principle of one China. The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs previously stated that Pakistan reaffirms its firm adherence to the principle of one China, explicitly recognizing the Government of the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate government representing all of China. It considers Taiwan to be an inalienable part of Chinese territory, and opposes any attempts to create a "two China" situation or a "one China, one Taiwan" scenario.
