A US Navy warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, the third time in a week that the vessel has entered waters claimed by China, raising tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The US government said the last voyage of the destroyer USS Benfold demonstrated its “commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific”, but Beijing criticized it as a “provocation” that shows the US is a “destroyer of peace and stability”. .
The strait is a 180-kilometer-wide stretch of water that separates the democratic island of Taiwan from China.
Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan despite the fact that the Communist Party of China has never controlled the island – and considers the strait part of its “territorial waters”. The US Navy, however, says most of the strait is in international waters.
The Navy cites an international law that defines territorial waters as extending 12 nautical miles off a country’s coast and regularly sends its warships across the strait on freedom of navigation operations, including on May 10, when the USS Port Royal has taken a similar trip.
This time, the Benfold sailed “through a corridor in the strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state,” said US 7th Fleet Spokesperson Lt. Nicholas Lingo.
China reacted angrily to the ship’s presence in the region and its military said on Wednesday that it followed and monitored the US ship during its transit.
“The US’s frequent provocations and displays fully demonstrate that they are the destroyers of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and creators of security risks there,” said Colonel Shi Yi, a spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army Eastern Command. . “The troops remain on high alert at all times and will defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Last week, the USS Benfold carried out two freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, near contested islands where Beijing has built military installations.
On July 13, the US destroyer challenged what it calls “excessive maritime claims” by Beijing around the Paracel Islands – known as the Xisha Islands in China, and on Saturday near the Spratly Islands – known as the Nansha Islands. in China.
Tensions between the two countries over Taiwan have escalated in recent days, with Beijing twice criticizing US relations with the island.
On Monday, Beijing said a $108 million US arms sale to Taipei “gravely compromises China’s sovereignty and security interests and gravely harms relations between the two countries and their military.”
And on Tuesday, a Beijing spokesperson said he was “firmly opposed” to a possible visit to the island by Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives.
Also on Tuesday, the top US general ordered a comprehensive review of US military interactions with Chinese forces over the past five years, as concerns about Beijing’s assertive behavior in the Indo-Pacific region mount.
Source: CNN Brasil
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