MAI - Myanmar Airways International (8M, Yangon) has been forced to abandon plans to open up flights to Taipei Taoyuan after it failed to secure Beijing's approval for the route. MAI's chairman Tin Maung Htun told an Asean Business and Investment Summit in Nay Pyi Taw last week that without government intervention, the carrier would not be able to secure lucrative Taiwanese rights.

"We haven't received any support from the government, and we also face other political and economic problems. Currently, although we want to, we can't fly to Taipei, where a huge market is located. To fly to Taipei, approval from the Government of China is needed, and we cannot get it," Tin was quoted by The Nation newspaper a saying.

MAI currently serves Thailand, India, China, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore from its Yangon hub.

Since the Communist Party's ascension to power under Mao Zedong in 1949, China has viewed Taiwan as a renegade province with no right to have diplomatic relations of its own. Countries that have attempted to forge official ties with the island have often been cold-shouldered by Beijing.