A US warship sailed through the strait between Taiwan and mainland China on Tuesday, the US Navy said, in the first such maneuver since the virtual meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping the previous week.
Passing through the Taiwan Strait The destroyer USS MiliusThe US Seventh Fleet said in a statement that the Arleigh Burke-class guided missiles were a routine maneuver.
The eleventh flight of this method so far this year is called free navigation exercises, “Demonstrates America’s commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacificsays the statement.
maneuver occurs A week after the virtual summit between President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi JinpingThe two leaders exchanged warnings about the situation in Taiwan.
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This island is democratically governed and claimed by Beijing The main focus of tension between the two world superpowers.
American warships often cross the strait between Taiwan and mainland China, angering the communist authorities who consider the island and the surrounding waters part of their territory.
Instead, the United States and its allies see this road as international waters open to any corridor.
A growing number of US allies have crossed the road as Beijing ramps up its military threats to Taiwan and consolidates its grip on the disputed South China Sea.. British, Canadian, French and Australian warships have crossed the Taiwan Strait in recent years, prompting protests from Beijing.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian denounced the recent passage as a “deliberate attempt to destabilize and undermine regional peace and stability.” And he warned: “The United States should immediately correct its mistake, stop causing trouble, cross the line and play with fire.”
Colin Koh, a researcher at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, maintains a database of US-declared transits across the Taiwan Strait.
Nine were implemented in 2019, followed by 15 in 2020. There have been 11 so far this year, including the USS Milius crossing.
(With information from AFP)
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