The flights from Kinmen or Matsu to Taiwan always overfly Taiwan strait. Why can't the flights from Xiamen or Fuzhou use the same route, fly over Kinmen or Matsu first and then to Taiwan directly, but need to fly away from the strait?
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3$\begingroup$ Because Kinmen and Matsu are governed by Taiwan, ROC, while Xiamen and Fuzhou are governed by Fujian, PRC. PRC and ROC have some complicated political issues covering almost all civilian and military topics (finances, trading, travelling, etc), and air traffic is one of them. Less than a decades ago IIRC situation was even worse, e.g. those flights need to actually land (actually physically touch the ground) in HK before entering the other side. $\endgroup$– user3528438Nov 18, 2018 at 17:10
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2$\begingroup$ You may expect such curved flights to end some time in the near future, but ROC and PRC fought a pretty big civil war in the 1940s and continue to fight for the UN position till 1971. Kinmen in particular, was still receiving artillery attacks until 1978. Give it some time. $\endgroup$– user3528438Nov 18, 2018 at 17:19
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The answer to this question is covered in good detail in this news article in The Straits Times. Essentially, it's a political dispute between the countries of China and Taiwan.
answered Oct 19, 2018 at 9:43