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Teddy Ng

Beijing has accused the United States of deliberately damaging peace and stability by sending a destroyer through the Taiwan Strait.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sampson conducted a routine operation through the strait on Tuesday, a statement from the US 7th fleet said.
“The ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the statement said.
“The United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows.”
Taiwan’s defence ministry said the US destroyer sailed north through the strait, adding that the situation in the waterway was “as normal”.
US will keep supporting Taiwan’s ‘asymmetric’ defence efforts, says Blinken
The US has no formal diplomatic ties with Taipei but supplies arms to the island and regularly sends warships through the Taiwan Strait, triggering condemnation from Beijing.
People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theatre Command spokesman Senior Colonel Shi Yi said in a statement on Wednesday that Beijing is committed to safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
“The latest passage by a US Navy ship through the Taiwan Strait is a provocation that undermined peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” Shi said.
The Chinese military remains on high alert with combat-ready naval and air forces patrolling the strait.


Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province and has not renounced the use of force to bring it under its control.
It opposes other countries establishing formal relations with the island and has said US arms sales and visits by officials are a violation of its sovereignty.
Washington has strengthened its ties with Taiwan in recent years. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the US is ready to use all its sanctions tools against China if Beijing moves aggressively towards Taiwan.
Beijing was also furious when Taiwan was invited to US President Joe Biden’s democracy summit in December, while representatives from mainland China were excluded.
False Taiwan TV invasion report leads to resignations, investigation
Beijing has repeatedly said any move to boost ties between Washington and Taipei would be crossing a “red line” and would bear consequences.
In a speech to mark the 50th anniversary of the first visit by members of the US Congress to China, Beijing’s ambassador to Washington Qin Gang said Taiwan is the “most important and sensitive issue in the US-China relationship”.
“The one-China principle is the unshakeable political foundation of the China-US relationship, and a red line not to be crossed. We hope that the US will honour its 50-year political commitments on Taiwan, stop hollowing out the one-China principle, stop emboldening or abetting [separatist] activities, and stop playing the ‘Taiwan card’ in China-US relations,” he said, according to a transcript posted on the Chinese embassy website.
“Only in this way can we truly maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and avoid major crises between our two countries”.
As Ukraine holds off Russia, Taiwan sees cross-strait benefits of US training
Qin also said China and the US should not only look at their differences, but also common interests, and said the two sides must avoid “misunderstanding and miscalculation caused by individual events”.
He added: “People should not use an American yardstick to judge China, or follow the ideological and binary narrative of ‘Democracy versus Authoritarianism’, or oversimplify China-US relations as ‘competition’.”


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Beijing says US undermining peace by sending destroyer through Taiwan Strait

The USS Sampson conducted the operation on Tuesday. Photo: AP

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China’s Minister of National Defence Wei Fenghe reminded US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin of several of Beijing’s positions when they spoke on Wednesday. Photo: AP

US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin was said by the Chinese defence ministry to have agreed that both sides should manage competition and risks in a responsible manner. Photo: AP

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Members of the US Congressional delegation with President Tsai Ing-wen and other Taiwanese officials at the  Presidential Office in Taipei. Photo: Taiwan Presidential Office via AP 

US warship transits sensitive Taiwan Strait in first such sailing for 2022

The USS Ralph Johnson’s transit through the Taiwan Strait showed America’s ‘commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific’, the US Navy said. Photo: US Navy

News

China

Diplomacy


American defends the USS Sampson’s passage through the waterway as a routine operation that was in line with international law
The Chinese military denounced it as a provocation and said it had undermined the country’s sovereignty



American defends the USS Sampson’s passage through the waterway as a routine operation that was in line with international law.


US-China relations

United States

Taiwan