EU's unreasonable charge

The Chinese government is clear-cut in its attitude towards the European Union's carbon emission charges on flights into and out of airports in EU member countries.

As the Civil Aviation Administration of China announced on Monday, the government does not allow China's domestic airlines to pay such charges as it regards the EU decision as unreasonable and arbitrary.

In the first place, this scheme, which came into effect on Jan 1, does not conform to international legal principle that each state has complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its territory. The scheme constitutes an infringement on the sovereignty of other countries as it charges for carbon emissions emitted not just within the airspace of EU countries but during the entire flight.