China launches weather satellite, flights avoid no-fly zone to north of Taiwan

China launched a weather satellite on April 16, 2023, as civilian flights altered their routes to avoid a Chinese-imposed no-fly zone to the north of Taiwan which Beijing put in place because of the possibility of falling rocket debris.

China launched a weather satellite on April 16, 2023, as civilian flights altered their routes to avoid a Chinese-imposed no-fly zone to the north of Taiwan which Beijing put in place because of the possibility of falling rocket debris.

Taiwan's Transport Ministry said Beijing had initially notified Taipei it would impose a no-fly zone from April 16 to April 18 but later said that period had been reduced to 27 minutes on April 16 morning after Taiwan protested.

The no-fly announcement rattled regional nerves as it followed shortly after China staged new war games around Taiwan, which Beijing views as sovereign Chinese territory.

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, China's main contractor for its space programme, said the weather satellite Fengyun 3G had successfully launched from the northwestern province of Gansu at 9:36 a.m. (0136 GMT).

The satellite then entered its set orbit, the contractor said, describing the launch as a "complete success". The Fengyun 3G is a low-earth orbit satellite designed to track rainfall.

It did not say what the flight path of the Long March 4B rocket carrying the satellite was, but the time coincides with China's previous announcement about the no-fly zone.

China has said it is inaccurate to call it a no-fly zone, though Taiwan has issued a notice to airmen, or NOTAM, that uses the wording "airspace blocked due to aerospace flight activity".