China has mysteriously blocked parts of its airspace for 40 days with no warning.
The world’s second most populous country announced it would restrict five areas of airspace on its northeastern coast.
While China didn’t give a reason for the sudden move, it’s believed to suggest possible military motion in the world.
Beijing reportedly issued alerts in force from March 27 until May 6.
These alerts are just like those used to warn civilian aviation authorities about military exercises, in line with the Wall Street Journal.
Previous drills haven’t lasted for longer than a number of days.
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The alerts, often called ‘Notice to Air Missions’ (Notams), are designed to provide a heads-up to air traffic controllers about hazards on the standard flight path in a selected area.
Today, the Chinese airspace appeared unaffected by the alerts, with the flight tracking website Flightradar24 showing a gradual flow of aircraft, including within the northeast.
The zones, named SFC-UNL, don’t have any vertical restriction, meaning technically China has restricted the airspace column as much as space.
The reserved airspace extends for around 340 miles from the Yellow Sea to the East China Sea off the coast of Shanghai, the US aviation watchdog, Federal Aviation Authority, said.
Though the restricted zone just isn’t near Taiwan, it has raised questions over Beijing’s intentions.
Beijing sees Taiwan as a breakaway province of China, and it has not hidden its hopes to take over the island at some point.
Despite the tense relationship between Taiwan and China, which don’t have any diplomatic relations currently, American spies said Beijing just isn’t planning to invade the island.
Ray Powell, the director of maritime tracking project SeaLight at Stanford University, told the WSJ: ‘What makes this especially notable is the mix of SFC-UNL with a unprecedented 40-day duration—and no announced exercise.
‘That means not a discrete exercise but a sustained operational readiness posture—and one which China apparently doesn’t feel the necessity to clarify.’
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