After the US missile-destroyer passed through the Taiwan Strait, China’s military declared that the USS Milius was present in Taiwan Strait and it was posing security risk to the region.
On Tuesday, the US Navy warship navigated through the narrow strait measuring 125km wide. The American military called it “a maneuver of the seas”. “routine” mission to demonstrate their nation’s “commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”Each month, the Pentagon sends warships between Taiwan and mainland China. It also regularly deploys warplanes for patrolling the region.
Continue reading
Beijing regards such operations as provocative and harmful to the peace of the region. Responding to the latest of its kind, Colonel Shi Yi, spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command (ETC), said the passage of the American asset was monitored by the Chinese military. Its forces will take all necessary steps to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity and counter any threats, he said.
Taiwan was the last place of refuge for retreating nationalist forces in China’s civil war of the 1940s. Both Beijing, Taiwan and Taipei are in possession of the whole territory.
Like many other nations, the US, which supports Taiwan’s self-proclaimed autonomy, maintains a stance of diplomatic ambiguity, recognizing that Beijing has a claim of sovereignty over the island and refraining from formally treating its ally as an independent nation.
In recent years, Washington and Beijing both increased their military presence on Taiwan as tensions between them increased.
Share this article with friends if you enjoy it!
[ad_2]
