US suspension of Chinese flights ‘irresponsible’

The US’ move to suspend 26 Chinabound flights from the US by four Chinese carriers and attempts to shift blame to China’s “circuit-breaker” measures are extremely irresponsible and a political manipulation of normal business exchanges, and it will harm normal flight operations between the two countries, Chinese officials and experts said on Friday.

The US government confirmed on Thursday that it will suspend 26 Chinabound flights from the US by four Chinese carriers. The move will affect flights operated by Xiamen Airlines, Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines from September 5 to September 28, Reuters reported.

The suspensions cover 19 flights from Los Angeles and seven China Eastern flights from New York.

The US Department of Transportation said that the move was made after Chinese authorities canceled 26 flights by American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines over China’s circuit-breaker measures.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the US, said that the US action was “extremely irresponsible” and “groundlessly suspended Chinese airline flights,” according to the Reuters report.

The Embassy said that China’s COVID-19 “circuit-breaker” measures were fair and transparent, applied both to Chinese and foreign airlines, and were consistent with bilateral air transportation agreements.

“It is irresponsible for the US to unilaterally and recklessly suspend Chinese flights and blame China’s circuitbreaker rule for poor US epidemic control measures,” Qi Qi, an industry observer, told the Global Times on Friday, stressing that such a groundless accusation shows Washington is politicizing the normal course of exchanges between the two countries.

Qi said that the 26 flights covered almost all of the Chinese flights operating between China and the US, and this would have a huge impact on the already-tight flight availability between the two countries, increasing the inconvenience of people-to-people exchanges.