US-China relations: US warship sails through Taiwan Strait under scrutiny from Beijing
- Transit of guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin part of America’s ‘commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific’, US Pacific Fleet says
- People’s Liberation Army, Taiwan send destroyer, frigate to monitor warship’s movements
According to the US Pacific Fleet, the US Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin conducted a routine transit through the waterway that separates Taiwan from the Chinese mainland.
“The US 7th Fleet [which is headquartered in Japan] conducts forward-deployed naval operations in support of US national interests in the Indo-Pacific area of operations,” it said in a statement on Wednesday morning.
“As the US Navy’s largest numbered fleet, 7th Fleet interacts with 35 other maritime nations to build partnerships that foster maritime security, promote stability and prevent conflict.”
US forces would continue to “fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows”, it said.
Taipei confirmed the warship’s passage, but did not give further details.
“The military is aware of and closely monitors all activities in the sea and air near the Taiwan Strait through the combined intelligence it has gathered,” the defence ministry said.
Local news reports said on Wednesday that the Mustin sailed close to the Taipei-governed Matsu Islands, which lie just off mainland China’s east coast and once had Taiwanese military outposts.
Both Taipei and Beijing sent warships to monitor the transit, United Daily News reported.
The PLA’s Eastern Theatre Command said on Wednesday that the military was on “high alert” to protect China’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, and monitor US activity.
US health minister’s visit to Taiwan designed to not upset Beijing, observers say
The Mustin, which is part of the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier strike group, is the seventh American warship to sail through the Taiwan Strait this year, according to news reports.
Yen Chen-shen, an international relations professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei, said the ship’s movements were meant as a clear signal to Beijing.
“The passage represents the US’ will to push through its freedom of navigation operations in international waters to counter the mainland’s military expansion in the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific region,” he said.
“By regularly sending warships to transit the Taiwan Strait, the US also wants to establish a new normal.”
Lu Shih-li, a former instructor at Taiwan’s Naval Academy in Kaohsiung, said the Mustin’s transit was possibly intended to disrupt the PLA’s plans to stage war games at the northern and southern ends of the Taiwan Strait.
“It demonstrates the US’s efforts to counter the PLA’s attempts to expand its military influence in the region,” he said.
The US has maintained a strong presence in the South China Sea over the past six months. The last US warship to pass through the Taiwan Strait was the USS Russell destroyer, which transited in June.
Taiwan has also stepped up its military manoeuvring in the region. On Tuesday, its new combined arms battalions took part in an exercise in the north of the island, simulating an amphibious landing by hostile forces.
Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory and has not rejected the use of force to reunify it with the mainland.
