U.S. Lawmakers Call for Taiwan’s Participation in ICAO Assembly
On August 21, U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Gary Peters (D-MI), along with Representatives John Moolenaar (R-MI), chairman of the House Select Committee on China, and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), urged the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to invite Taiwan to participate as a guest in its upcoming 42nd Assembly, scheduled for September 23 to October 3.
In a letter to ICAO Secretary-General Juan Carlos Salazar, the four lawmakers also called on the aviation organization to “clarify its opposition” against China’s unilateral decision to fully open a third extension of the M503 flight route in the Taiwan Strait.
Background: First declared in 2015, the M503 route lies within the Shanghai Flight Information Region but runs close to the Taipei Flight Information Region, raising concerns about flight safety and Taiwan’s sovereignty.
In February 2024, Beijing shifted the M503 route eastward toward the Taiwan Strait’s median line and opened parallel feeder routes W122 and W123, despite Taiwan’s protests. In July 2025, China announced the opening of the W121 route, linking Dongshan in Zhejiang Province to the north-south M503.
Significance: “This action places civilian aircraft dangerously close to Taiwan-administered airspace and creates potential conflict points with east-west routes operated under the Taipei Flight Information Region, which handles over 1.85 million flights annually,” the U.S. lawmakers said.
The lawmakers argued that China’s unilateral changes violate international aviation procedures and contradict ICAO’s own standards, which stress the need for coordination and risk mitigation to safeguard international flight safety.
In their letter, the lawmakers said the issue was especially troubling because Taiwan continues to be barred from meaningful participation in ICAO despite its critical role in global aviation.
Citing Taiwan as the world’s 11th-largest aviation market and a key transit hub in East Asia, they argued that its “absence from ICAO meetings and decision-making undermines global aviation safety.”
“As an organization tasked with ensuring the safety, security, and efficiency of international civil aviation, ICAO must not remain silent,” they said, urging it to include Taiwan in the upcoming ICAO assembly and to publicly oppose unilateral changes to international flight routes that threaten regional safety.
Source:
[1] Focus Taiwan
Taiwanese Troops Join U.S. Military Exercise in Michigan
More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise at Lake Michigan, hosted by the U.S., the Pentagon-run news outlet Stars and Stripes reported on August 18.
This year’s drill, sponsored by the Michigan National Guard and bringing together about 7,500 military personnel from the U.S. and its international partners, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region — a departure from its traditional European focus, the report said. The shift underscored the U.S. armed forces’ growing attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added.
Why It Maters: In a briefing on August 4, a senior Michigan National Guard official confirmed that more than 500 Taiwanese troops took part in Northern Strike this year. A briefing slide indicated that “Taiwan has been quietly sending its forces to the exercise since at least 2021,” the report said.
Former U.S. diplomat Joseph Cella was quoted in the report as saying at a U.S. House of Representatives hearing last year that Taiwanese troops had been training “in strategic and tactical battle operations” in Michigan.
In response to a request for comment, a U.S. defense official told the outlet that the Pentagon does not discuss Taiwan’s participation in U.S. military exercises as a matter of long-standing policy.
Growing Military Cooperation: In Taipei, Institute for National Security and Research analyst Mei Fu-shing said on August 19 that collaborations between Taiwanese and U.S. forces have steadily increased.
The U.S. deployed live loitering munitions for the benefit of Taiwanese generals attending last year’s Northern Strike exercise, he said.
