China-US relations: USS Curtis Wilbur sails through Taiwan Strait

Name: Why has the relationship between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan taken a turn for the worse?
Uploaded: 2021-06-23T06:00:12.000Z
Duration: 10 min 22 s
Description: Why has the relationship between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan taken a turn for the worse?

PLA confirms the warship’s movements were fully monitored as it travelled through the sensitive waterway

Passage marks sixth transit by a US naval vessel of potential flashpoint since President Joe Biden took office in January

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The USS Curtis Wilbur during its transit of the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday. Photo: Handout

Sarah Zheng

Published: 2:00pm, 23 Jun 2021Updated: 9:47pm, 23 Jun 2021

A United States warship sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait over Beijing’s protests, in the sixth such transit near the self-ruled island under US President Joe Biden’s administration.

The USS Curtis Wilbur, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, conducted a “routine transit” through the strategic waterway that separates Taiwan from mainland China on Tuesday to “demonstrate the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific”, according to a US Navy statement.

“The United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows,” it said.

10:22

Why has the relationship between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan taken a turn for the worse?

It was the sixth transit by the US Navy since Biden took office. Washington has made clear its focus on the Indo-Pacific region, including the use of freedom of navigation exercises in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea to counter Beijing’s growing maritime presence.

But there have been increasing concerns that the strait could become a flashpoint in the heightened strategic rivalry between Beijing and Washington.

As Taiwan has faced growing political and military pressure from Beijing, the US has ramped up its support, including last week’s shipment of 2.5 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to the island, and Taiwan-friendly statements with its allies at the G7.

The US Navy’s latest transit was fully monitored by China’s military, Zhang Chunhui, a spokesman for China’s Eastern Theatre Command, said on Wednesday.

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