Chinese Embassy Urges US to Stop 'Unreasonable' Flight Suspensions

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - America's retaliatory decision to suspend dozens of flights to China is unreasonable and the disruptions must end, a spokesperson from Beijing's Embassy in Washington has told Sputnik.

Earlier in the day, the Biden administration announced that it had suspended 44 US to China flights in order to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. The suspended flights to China begin on 30 January and include flights from the carriers Xiamen Airlines, China Southern Airlines Company, and Air China.

"It is very unreasonable for the US to suspend Chinese airlines' flights on this ground", Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said on Friday. "We urge the US side to stop disrupting and restricting the normal passenger flights operated by Chinese airlines".

The Chinese government recently cancelled several US flights bound to China due to a surge of passengers testing positive for the novel coronavirus.

The Civil Aviation Authority of China as of 19 January has suspended 44 passenger flight segments to China by US carriers despite repeated objections from the Biden administration, according to the order.

Liu explained in his statement that the Chinese government's decision to suspend certain China-bound flights has helped effectively block the cross-border spread of the novel coronavirus amid a notable increase in the number of cases imported to China.

China's policy has been applied equally to Chinese and foreign airlines in a fair and transparent way, Liu said