TAIPEI: A United States warship sailed through a sensitive waterway separating Taiwan from China on Thursday (Aug 22), the US Navy said, as a way to demonstrate Washington’s “commitment to upholding freedom of navigation”.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, and has in recent years upped military pressures by sending in increasing numbers of fighter jets, drones and naval vessels around the island
Thursday’s transit of the 180km Taiwan Strait comes as the US and its allies have increased crossings to reinforce its status as an international waterway, angering Beijing.
The voyage by the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson showed Washington’s “commitment to upholding freedom of navigation for all nations as a principle”, the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet said in a statement on Thursday.
A Canadian Halifax-class frigate conducted last month “a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait”, a move condemned by the Chinese military Beijing has said it would never renounce the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in recent years upping the rhetoric of “unification” being “inevitable”.
In response, Taiwan has strengthened economic and political ties with its partners – most notably the US, its biggest weapons provider – while increasing its defence budget.
