Two US warships yesterday sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the US Navy said, the first such transit since China staged unprecedented military drills around Taiwan, which the Ministry of National Defense said are still ongoing.
In a statement, the US Navy said the transit “demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Tensions in the Strait soared to their highest level in years after US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei from Aug. 2 to 3.
Photo: AFP / Justin Stack / US NAVY
Beijing reacted furiously, staging days of air and sea exercises around Taiwan. Taipei condemned the drills and missile tests as preparation for an invasion.
The Ministry of National Defense said it detected 23 Chinese aircraft and eight Chinese ships operating around Taiwan yesterday.
That included seven Chinese aircraft that crossed the median line of the Strait, which normally acts as an unofficial barrier between the two sides, it added.
The US Seventh Fleet said a pair of Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers — the USS Antietam and the USS Chancellorsville — conducted a “routine” transit yesterday “through waters where high seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law.”
“These ships transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state,” a US Navy statement said. “The United States military flies, sails and operates anywhere international law allows.”
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said the US had “openly hyped up” the ships’ passage through the Strait.
“The PLA Eastern Theater Command is following and warning the US vessels throughout their entire journey, and is aware of all movements,” theater command spokesman Senior Colonel Shi Yi (施毅) said.
“Troops in the [eastern] theater remain on high alert and are prepared at all times to foil any provocations,” he said.
The Ministry of National Defense confirmed a pair of warships sailed from north to south through the channel.
“During their southward journey through the Taiwan Strait, the military is fully monitoring relevant movements in our surrounding sea and airspace, and the situation is normal,” it said.
The Seventh Fleet is based in Japan and is a core part of Washington’s navy presence in the Pacific.
The US and Western allies have increased “freedom of navigation” crossings by naval vessels of the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea to reinforce that those seas are international waterways, sparking anger from Beijing.
Washington has said its position on Taiwan remains unchanged and has accused China of threatening peace in the Strait and using Pelosi’s visit as a pretext for military exercises.
Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was followed about a week later by a group of five other US lawmakers, with China’s military responding by carrying out more exercises near Taiwan.
US Senator Marsha Blackburn, a member of US Senate’s commerce and armed services committees, arrived in Taiwan on Thursday in the third visit by a US dignitary this month, defying pressure from China to halt the trips.
Additional reporting by Reuters
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS