Pakistan briefly bars Taiwanese airlines from its airspace citing one-China policy, then reverses within hours 9:00

Pakistan briefly barred Taiwanese airlines from its airspace citing the one-China policy, then reversed within hours.

Bloomberg reported on 28 October that Pakistan's defence minister Khawaja Asif, who also oversees aviation, said the aviation division follows the one-China policy and allows only mainland Chinese airlines to overfly the country, describing Pakistan as the first country to take such a step against Taiwanese carriers. Flight-tracking data showed China Airlines and EVA Air had been routing Asia–Europe flights over Russia since Sunday 25 October. Hours later, AP and Bloomberg, citing documents, reported that Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority approved both carriers to use its airspace from 28 October to 27 March 2027. Taiwan's foreign ministry condemned Pakistan for politicising and weaponising airspace; Nikkei Asia said the episode fuelled concern about Taiwan's shrinking international space. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on 29 October that the one-China principle is a broad international consensus and that, to China's knowledge, people from the Taiwan region face no obstacles in international travel.