China decries ‘provocations’ after US destroyer sails through Taiwan Strait
- USS Benfold makes its way through Beijing-claimed waters for the third time in a week
- Tensions over Taiwan run high following reports that US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to visit the island next month
The Chinese military slammed Washington for its frequent “provocations” after an American guided-missile destroyer sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday.
China’s Eastern Theatre Command, which is in charge of defence in the country’s eastern waters, including the Taiwan Strait, has criticised the US for provocations and destabilising the narrow waterway separating Taiwan and the Chinese mainland.
“The ship transited through a corridor in the strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state,” the US Seventh Fleet said in a statement on Wednesday.
The US Navy routinely travels to contentious sea territories to assert freedom of navigation as permitted by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), of which China is a signatory.
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