evidence: The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) arbitrary decision to open new air routes that pass near two Taiwan islands poses a flight safety risk, Taiwan officials said, adding that any aircraft using the routes would be ordered to turn around. Taipei expressed anger in January 2024 after Beijing unilaterally changed the M503 flight path near the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which has served for decades as an unofficial demarcation between Taiwan and the PRC. The PRC claims democratically governed Taiwan as its territory and threatens to annex it by force. The new routes to the Chinese cities of Xiamen and Fuzhou, called W123 and W122 respectively, connect to M503. They run alongside existing routes to Taiwan’s Kinmen and Matsu islands, which have regular flights to and from the main island of Taiwan.