Taipei – Pakistan briefly closed its airspace to Taiwanese cargo and passenger flights, Taiwan said Thursday, suspecting China of being behind the unprecedented move.

“We suspect definitely China was behind this,” Deputy Foreign Minister Chen Ming-chi said after confirming that Pakistan had closed and reopened its airspace to Taiwanese airlines.

China Airlines and EVA Air, which are both based in Taiwan, normally fly over Pakistan on their Asia-Europe route.

Last weekend, however, they began rerouting their Europe-bound flights further south over the Gulf or further north over Russia, AFP analysis of flight tracking data shows.

“China Airlines and EVA received a notice from the Pakistan authorities that they will lift the ban, but only temporarily ...…