The US on Tuesday backed Taiwan’s assertion that the Taiwan Strait is an international waterway, a further rebuff to Beijing’s claim to exercise sovereignty over the strategic passage.
On Monday, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country “has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait,” and called it “a false claim when certain countries call the Taiwan Strait ‘international waters.’”
On Tuesday, US Department of State spokesman Ned Price said in an e-mail: “The Taiwan Strait is an international waterway, meaning that the Taiwan Strait is an area where high-seas freedoms, including freedom of navigation and overflight, are guaranteed under international law.”
Photo: Reuters
The world has “an abiding interest in peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and we consider this central to the security and prosperity of the broader Indo-Pacific region,” he added.
Price reiterated US concerns about China’s “aggressive rhetoric and coercive activity regarding Taiwan,” and said the US “would continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, and that includes transiting through the Taiwan Strait.”
In Taipei, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday said the Strait was by “no means China’s inland sea.”
Photo: Reuters
“China’s ambition to swallow up Taiwan has never stopped or been concealed,” he told reporters. “The Taiwan Strait is a maritime area for free international navigation.”
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said that Taipei was “cooperating with external forces to hype up the issue.”
This “harms the interests of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and betrays the interests of the Chinese nation — it is despicable,” office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) said in Beijing.
In related news, Japan and Australia’s defense ministers yesterday vowed to step up their ties to support democratic values in the Indo-Pacific region, and agreed to work more closely with Southeast Asia and the Pacific island nations where China is seeking to expand its influence.
Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles and his Japanese counterpart, Nobuo Kishi, said that regionwide cooperation is necessary to maintain and strengthen the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region, where there is growing fear that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine might embolden China to increase its assertiveness.
“It is clear that our region faces the most complex set of strategic circumstances we have had since the end of World War II and what the region does matters,” Marles told a joint news conference in Tokyo after holding talks with Kishi.
“Only by working together can we uphold the rules-based international order, contribute to an effective balance of military power and ensure our region remains stable, peaceful and prosperous,” Marles added.
Kishi said the two ministers shared their concerns about the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He said they remain strongly opposed to any unilateral change of the “status quo” in the East and South China seas, and reaffirmed their commitment to a mutual vision of “a free and open” international order of the seas.
Tropical Storm Gaemi strengthened into a typhoon at 2pm yesterday, and could make landfall in Yilan County tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The agency was scheduled to issue a sea warning at 11:30pm yesterday, and could issue a land warning later today. Gaemi was moving north-northwest at 4kph, carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of up to 118.8kph and gusts of 154.8kph. The circumference is forecast to reach eastern Taiwan tomorrow morning, with the center making landfall in Yilan County later that night before departing from the north coast, CWA weather forecaster Kuan Shin-ping (官欣平) said yesterday. Uncertainty remains and
SEA WARNING LIKELY: The storm, named Gaemi, could become a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, with the Taipei City Government preparing for flooding A tropical depression east of the Philippines developed into a tropical storm named Gaemi at 2pm yesterday, and was moving toward eastern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Gaemi could begin to affect Taiwan proper on Tuesday, lasting until Friday, and could develop into a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, it said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued as early as Tuesday morning, it added. Gaemi, the third tropical storm in the Pacific Ocean this typhoon season, is projected to begin moving northwest today, and be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday, the agency said. Today, there would likely
DISRUPTIONS: The high-speed rail is to operate as normal, while several airlines either canceled flights or announced early departures or late arrivals Schools and offices in 15 cities and counties are to be closed today due to Typhoon Gaemi, local governments announced last night. The 15 are: Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Tainan, Keelung, Hsinchu and Kaohsiung, as well as Yilan, Hualien, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang counties. People should brace for torrential rainfall brought by the storm, with its center forecast to make landfall on the east coast between tonight and tomorrow morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The agency issued a sea warning for the typhoon at 11:30pm on Monday, followed by a land warning at 11:30am yesterday. As of
CASUALTY: A 70-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree in Kaohsiung as the premier warned all government agencies to remain on high alert for the next 24 hours Schools and offices nationwide are to be closed for a second day today as Typhoon Gaemi crosses over the nation, bringing torrential rain and whipping winds. Gaemi was forecast to make landfall late last night. From Tuesday night, its outer band brought substantial rainfall and strong winds to the nation. As of 6:15pm last night, the typhoon’s center was 20km southeast of Hualien County, Central Weather Administration (CWA) data showed. It was moving at 19kph and had a radius of 250km. As of 3pm yesterday, one woman had died, while 58 people were injured, the Central Emergency Operation Center said. The 70-year-old