TNAG-0866-FCO40-1076-Involvement-of-Hong-Kong-in-air-services-agreements-1979 — Page 38

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CONFIDENTIAL

CONFIDENTIAL

FM PEKING 290742Z NOV 79

TO PRIORITY FCO

TELEGRAM NUMBER 1015 OF 29 NOVEMBER 7?

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30 NOV 1979

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INFO PRIORITY UKREP ICAO MONTREAL, HONG KONG (FOR GOVERNOR AND BCARFE ROUTINE BANGKOK PARIS, BONN, ROME, WASHINGTON

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513

YOUR TELNO 694: CAAC NOTAM 19: AMBER ONE

1. HEAD OF CHANCERY CALLED ON XU XIYAO, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF CAAC IN CHARGE OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL, ON 28 NOVEMBER AND SPOKE AS INSTRUCTED. HE WAS ACCOMPANIED BY WEST GERMAN COMMERCIAL

COUNSELLOR WHO ASSOCIATED HIMSELF WITH THE APPROACH.

2. XU REPLIED WITH A LONG EXPLANTION THAT ALTHOUGH AMBER ONE HAD EXISTED FOR MANY YEARS, ITS PATH USED TO PASS OVER THE HIGH SEAS BETWEEN HAINAN AND THE XISHA ISLANDS ONLY IN MARCH 1978. CHINA HAD WISHED TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH THE DISCUSSION OF THE CHANGE, BUT HAD NOT BEEN CONSULTED BY ICAO. THE PRESENT ALIGNMENT OF AMBER ONE CROSSED CIVIL AND MILITARY AIR LANES BETWEEN THE ISLANDS. THERE HAD BEEN SOME NEAR-MISSES (UNSPEC- IFIED) WITH CHINESE CIVIL AND MILITARY AIRCRAFT. THE PRESENT ALIGNMENT OF AMBER ONE INVOLVED TWO TURNS WHICH WERE NOT MARKED BY BEACONS, AND NAVIGATIONAL DIFFICULTIES HAD LED TO DEVIATIONS BY AS MUCH AS 280 KMS OVER CHINESE AIR SPACE. (XU DECLINED TO SAY WHO HAD STRAYED AND WHEN, BUT INDICATED THAT DCA HONG KONG WAS AWARE OF THE PROBLEM.) THE FOUR AREAS MENTIONED IN NOTAM 19 HAD EXISTED FOR MANY YEARS, AND FAILURE TO CLOSE THEM TO AIR TRAFFIC REPRESENTED A RISK TO SAFETY WHICH WAS THE MAAIN CONSIDERATION. BUT AMBER ONE WAS NOT

BLOCKED ALL THE TIME SINCE THE WHOLE ROUTE WAS OPEN 8 HOURS A DAY, AND AT OTHER TIMES THERE WAS STILL A 20 NAUTICAL MILE GAP THROUGH WHICH SOME AIRCRAFT (UNSPECIFIED) WERE STILL FLYING. CHINA WAS NOT THE ONLY COUNTRY TO ESTABLISH DANGER AREAS OVER THE

HIGH SEAS. XU SAID THAT CHINA WISHED TO ESTABLISH A ROUTE OVER THE XISHA ISLANDS (WHICH, IT WAS CLEAR FROM A SUBSEQUENT REMARK, WOULD TAKE OVER FROM AMBER ONE RATHER THAN OPERATE IN IN PARALLEL WITH IT). A NAVIGATIONA/ MET FACILITY WAS

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