The US sends two Navy warships through the Taiwan Strait after China staged unprecedented military activity.
Since tensions between the US and China erupted this month over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s visit to the island, two US Navy warships have made their first transit through the Taiwan Strait. The USS Antietam and USS Chancellorsville guided-missile cruisers were traveling on Sunday “through waters where high seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law,” according to a statement from the US 7th Fleet in Japan.
The US Navy said that the transit “demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Following Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei this month, tensions in the Taiwan Strait reached their highest point in years. Beijing reacted furiously and organized days of air and sea drills near Taiwan. The drills and missile testing were denounced by Taipei as invasion tactics.
Taiwan is constantly at risk of invasion
Taiwan is constantly in danger of being invaded by China, which considers the democratic, self-governing island to be a portion of its territory that will one day be taken, by force if necessary. Washington maintains de facto relations with Taiwan and supports the island’s ability to determine its own future while diplomatically favoring Beijing over Taipei.
“These ships transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the international territorial sea of any Coast state. The United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows,” said a statement.
To further the idea that these seas are international waterways, the US and its Western allies have boosted “freedom of navigation” crossings by Navy vessels of the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, angering Beijing.
The United States is a “destroyer of peace and stability”: Col. Shi Yi
After the Benfold’s transit on July 19, Col. Shi Yi, spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command, stated, “The frequent provocations and the showing off by the US fully demonstrate that the US is the destroyer of peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits and the creator of security risks in the Taiwan Strait.”
Washington claims that its position on Taiwan is unchanging and accuses China of endangering regional stability. The claim is that they are using Pelosi’s visit as an excuse for military drills. The military drills by China included firing multiple ballistic missiles into the waters off Taiwan. This route happens to be one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. This is the first time that Beijing has engaged in such military drills since the mid-90s.
Taiwan staged some of its own drills– simulating defense against invasion. It also displayed its most advanced fighter jet in a rare nighttime demonstration.
