China appears to backtrack over no-fly zone near Taiwan

Taipei says Beijing has confined flight ban north of island to 27 minutes on Sunday after initial three-day plan

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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.