A new source of tension has emerged in the relationship between China and the United States in recent months, with Chinese military officials telling their US counterparts that they do not consider the Taiwan Strait to be "international waters", a term used by the US.
According to a June 12 report by Bloomberg, these assertions have been made "on multiple occasions and at multiple levels", causing alarm among US officials. A day after the Bloomberg report was published, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin confirmed at a press conference on June 13 that, in China's view, the concept of "international waters" does not apply to the Taiwan Strait because it has "no legal basis… in the international law of the sea".
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