Beijing condemns latest US Navy sailing through Taiwan Strait
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BEIJING • China's military has condemned the US after an American warship sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait, saying such missions "deliberately" harm peace and stability.
The US Navy said the guided-missile destroyer USS Sampson held a "routine Taiwan Strait transit" on Tuesday, in accordance with international law.
The US has been carrying out such sailings about once a month, angering China, which views them as a sign of support for Taiwan.
The People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theatre Command said its forces monitored and warned the ship. "The United States frequently carries out such provocative actions, sending wrong signals to 'Taiwan independence' forces, and deliberately undermining the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait. We firmly oppose it," it said in a statement yesterday.
Taiwan's Defence Ministry said the US ship sailed north through the strait, and that the situation in the waterway was "as normal".
US 7th Fleet spokesman Nicholas Lingo said in a statement that the US military flies, sails and operates anywhere international law allows.
"The ship's transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," he said.
The US, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is its most important international supporter and arms supplier, making it a constant source of tension between Beijing and Washington.
Last year, Taiwan recorded 969 incursions by Chinese warplanes into its air defence zone, according to a database compiled by AFP - more than double the roughly 380 in 2020.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
