The United States sent two warships through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, in an apparent first since the visit of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei earlier this month sparked tensions.
U.S. warships pass through Taiwan Strait for first time since Pelosi visit
Taiwan’s defense ministry, monitoring the situation, said eight Chinese military vessels and 23 aircraft were detected in the region Sunday.
The USS Chancellorsville and USS Antietam, part of the U.S. 7th fleet, “transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal State,” the U.S. Navy said in a statement.
“The ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows.”
Taiwan, which is separated by the roughly 100-mile strait from China, is home to 23 million people. Beijing regards the democratically-governed island as its territory.
China’s military criticized the United States for having “hyped” the operation “publicly.” Shi Yi, a senior colonel and spokesperson for the PLA Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement that China’s military was conducting “security tracking and monitoring of the U.S. warships’ passage in the whole course and had all movements of the two US warships under control.”
The United States and other nations have periodically sailed through the strait in the past drawing stern replies from China, though such passages did not take place as China conducted military exercises in the waterway after Pelosi (D-Calif) visited.
In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Pelosi said her visit was meant to honor pledges to “stand by Taiwan,” calling it “an island of resilience.” The United States has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan and has long maintained a policy of strategic ambiguity over the extent of its assistance — making it deliberately unclear what it would do if it comes to militarily defending Taiwan.
Days ahead of Pelosi’s Taiwan trip, Chinese leader Xi Jinping requested President Biden halt the visit, according to White House officials. But Biden told Xi he could not, despite defense and other U.S. officials’ concerns about the repercussions of the trip.
Since Pelosi’s visit to Taipei, other U.S. lawmakers have followed suit, including Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). She called Taiwan a “free and independent nation,” as she met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, earlier this week.
In a further show of support, the United States and Taiwan also announced this month they would begin formal trade negotiations together in the fall.
Source: WP
