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US-China relations
ChinaMilitary

China hits out at US Navy ‘provocation’ after warship transits Taiwan Strait

  • PLA says guided-missile destroyer’s passage through the waterway on Tuesday endangered peace and stability in the region
  • Both sides recognise the strait may become ‘a dangerous place’ if tensions keep rising, according to analyst

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The US Navy said guided-missile destroyer the USS Curtis Wilbur conducted a “routine Taiwan Strait transit”. Photo: AFP
Minnie Chan
The United States Navy sent a warship through the sensitive Taiwan Strait on Tuesday – the fifth such transit since President Joe Biden took office in January – prompting an angry protest from the People’s Liberation Army.
Analysts said US Navy transits through the waterway were becoming the norm, as were warnings from the PLA in response, and they were raising the risk of conflict given the tensions and lack of communications between the two sides.

The US Navy’s 7th Fleet said the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur had conducted a “routine Taiwan Strait transit” on Tuesday, in accordance with international law.

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“The ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the statement said. “The US military will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.”

PLA Eastern Theatre Command spokesman Senior Colonel Zhang Chunhui on Wednesday called the latest passage through the strait “a provocation”.

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“The US move sends the wrong signals to Taiwanese independence-leaning forces, deliberately disrupting and sabotaging the regional situation and endangering peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” he said.

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