Source:
https://scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3011445/two-us-navy-ships-sail-through-taiwan-strait Military
Two US Navy ships sail through Taiwan Strait
- Missile destroyer USS Preble makes second voyage into contentious waters in a week
- Chinese state media says Beijing has lodged ‘stern representations’ with Washington
The USNS Walter S Diehl accompanied the missile destroyer USS Preble through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, prompting a protest from Beijing. Photo: AP
The United States said it sent two warships ships through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, its latest “freedom of navigation” exercise in the waterway, prompting a rebuke from Beijing.
The guided missile destroyer USS Preble and the oiler USNS Walter S Diehl were the two vessels involved, a US military spokesman said.
“The ships’ transit through the Taiwan Strait shows the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” said Commander Clay Doss, a spokesman for the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet.
The operation was carried out in a “safe and professional” manner, he said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Beijing had lodged “stern representations” with Washington.
“The Taiwan issue is the most sensitive in China-US relations,” he said at the ministry’s daily news briefing in Beijing.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said the US vessels travelled north through the Taiwan Strait and that Taipei had monitored the mission.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said there was no cause for alarm. “Nothing abnormal happened during it, please everyone rest assured,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
US warships have sailed through the Taiwan Strait at least once a month since the start of this year. The US restarted such missions on a regular basis in July.
Washington has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help provide the island with the means to defend itself. The Pentagon said Washington had sold Taipei more than US$15 billion worth of weaponry since 2010.
The USS Preble took part in a “freedom of navigation” exercise near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on Sunday. Photo: Reuters
Beijing has been ramping up pressure to assert its sovereignty over the island, which it considers a wayward province awaiting reunification, by force if needed.
Beijing was dismayed about a recent Taiwan Strait passage by a French warship.
China has repeatedly sent military aircraft and ships to circle Taiwan on exercises in the past few years and worked to isolate it internationally, whittling down its diplomatic allies.
On Sunday, the USS Preble sailed near the disputed Scarborough Shoal claimed by China in the South China Sea, angering Beijing.
The state-run China Daily said in an editorial on Wednesday that China had shown “utmost restraint in responding to the incitements by the US”.
“With tensions between the two countries already rife, there is no guarantee that the presence of US warships on China’s doorstep will not spark direct confrontation between the two militaries,” it said.
.