Thursday, a US warship transited the tense Taiwan Strait as part of what the US Navy considers normal activity, but which has angered China.
In recent years, US warships and occasionally those of allied nations such as the United Kingdom and Canada have gone through the Taiwan Strait, attracting the ire of China, which claims Taiwan despite the protests of Taiwan’s democratically elected government.
The US military stated in a statement that the transit was conducted by the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Chung-Hoon.
The statement continued, “Chung-transit Hoon’s through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Liu Pengyu, spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington, said in a statement that China strongly opposes the decision and urged the United States to “immediately cease provoking trouble, escalating tensions, and undermining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
“In the pretext of exercising freedom of navigation, US warships often stretch their muscles. This is not about keeping the region open and free, according to the statement.
“China will continue to maintain a state of heightened vigilance, be ready to respond at any time to any threats or provocation, and will resolutely defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
A spokesman for the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army stated that troops were deployed to monitor and protect the ship’s transit and that “all movements were under control.”
The Defense Ministry of Taiwan reported that the ship sailed through the strait in a northerly route and that its soldiers had monitored its passage and seen nothing unusual.
Since the defeated Republic of China government retreated to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to the communists who created the People’s Republic of China, the Taiwan Strait has been a regular source of military conflict.
The United States has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but is obligated by law to supply the island with defensive capabilities.
China has never ruled out the use of force to subjugate Taiwan. Taiwan promises to defend itself if attacked, arguing that Beijing’s claims of sovereignty are invalid because the People’s Republic of China has never administered the island.
Last month, a Chinese military plane flew within 10 feet of a US air force aircraft in the contentious South China Sea, forcing it to do evasive maneuvers in international airspace to avoid a collision.
According to the United States, the close encounter followed a recent trend of increasingly risky activity by Chinese military aircraft.
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