US in rare double-warship Taiwan Strait transit after China starts sea drills

Name: Washington’s hardened position on Beijing’s claims in South China Sea heightens US-China tensions
Uploaded: 2020-12-31T04:53:47.000Z
Duration: 2 min 32 s
Description: Washington’s hardened position on Beijing’s claims in South China Sea heightens US-China tensions

Two guided-missile destroyers make 13th US passage through the contested waterway this year

Chinese navy has begun three 10-day exercises simultaneously off its southern coast

Reading Time:2 minutes

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The guided-missile destroyer USS John McCain passes through the Taiwan Strait on Thursday. Photo: US Navy

Minnie Chan

Published: 12:53pm, 31 Dec 2020Updated: 11:36pm, 31 Dec 2020

Two United States destroyers conducted a rare double-ship Taiwan Strait transit on the last day of 2020, as their Chinese counterparts kicked off massive naval exercises in the disputed South China Sea.

It was the 13th mission through the sensitive strait in 2020 but the first time in the year that the US had sent double destroyers there, according to Beijing-based think tank the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative.

Military experts suggested that the transit could be related to ongoing large-scale naval exercises by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) involving its aircraft carrier Shandong and other warships in the South China Sea.

China’s maritime authority said the PLA was conducting three 10-day exercises simultaneously off the southern Chinese island of Hainan, beginning on Tuesday this week.

02:32

Washington’s hardened position on Beijing’s claims in South China Sea heightens US-China tensions

The American transit was announced by the US Seventh Fleet on its Facebook page, where it said two Japan-based guided-missile destroyers, USS John S. McCain and USS Curtis Wilbur, had “conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit [on] December 31 in accordance with international law”.

It drew an immediate rebuke from the Chinese defence ministry, which said it was “provocation” and sent “wrong signals” to supporters of Taiwan independence, amounting to a serious threat to peace and stability.

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US in rare double-warship Taiwan Strait transit after China starts sea drills

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Two guided-missile destroyers make 13th US passage through the contested waterway this year Chinese navy has begun three 10-day exercises simultaneously off its southern coast

Two guided-missile destroyers make 13th US passage through the contested waterway this year

Chinese navy has begun three 10-day exercises simultaneously off its southern coast