China appears to backtrack over no-fly zone near Taiwan

Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing-wen, has defended her recent trip to the US and accused China of ‘continued authoritarian expansionism’. Photograph: Taiwan Presidential Office/Reuters

China has appeared to backtrack after reports it was planning to declare a three-day no-fly zone in the airspace north of Taiwan next week, reducing the planned duration to just 27 minutes.

A spokesperson from Taiwan’s defence ministry told a press conference the no-fly zone was about 85 nautical miles north of Taiwan, and they believed it could be related to aerospace activities, perhaps satellite launches.