During meetings with US counterparts in the past few months, Chinese military officials repeatedly said that the Taiwan Strait is not within international waters, generating concern in Washington, a person familiar with the matter said.
The statement, which disputes the US interpretation of international law, has been delivered to the US government by Chinese officials on multiple occasions and at multiple levels, the person said.
The US and key allies routinely send naval vessels through the waterway as part of freedom of navigation exercises, with the view that much of the strait is in international waters.
Photo: Reuters
China has long asserted that the Taiwan Strait is part of its exclusive economic zone, and takes the view there are limits to the activities of foreign military vessels in those waters.
Although China regularly protests US military moves in the Taiwan Strait, the legal status of the waters had never previously been a talking point in meetings with US officials.
It is not clear whether the assertions indicate that China might take further steps to confront naval vessels that enter and transit the Taiwan Strait.
The US also conducts freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea to challenge Chinese territorial claims around disputed land features.
“The United States will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, and that includes transiting through the Taiwan Strait,” Pentagon spokesman Martin Meiners said.
During a speech on Saturday at the IISS Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that China was unilaterally attempting to change the “status quo” regarding Taiwan.
“Our policy hasn’t changed,” Austin said. “But unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be true for the PRC [People’s Republic of China].”
“We’re seeing growing coercion from Beijing,” Austin told delegates at the security forum. “We’ve witnessed a steady increase in provocative and destabilizing military activity near Taiwan. That includes PLA [China’s People’s Liberation Army] aircraft flying near Taiwan in record numbers in recent months, and on a nearly daily basis.”
Austin’s speech was followed on Sunday by Chinese Minister of National Defense General Wei Fenghe (魏鳳和), who repeatedly expressed Beijing’s willingness to fight to prevent a formal split by the democratically elected government in Taipei.
Wei did not explicitly refer to the legal status of the Taiwan Strait.
“If anyone dares to secede Taiwan from China, we will not hesitate to fight,” Wei said, reaffirming Beijing’s longstanding position on the dispute. “We will fight at all costs, and we will fight to the very end. This is the only choice for China.”
The Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement on Sunday that Wei’s public threatening of the nation at an international event proved Beijing was the source of regional disturbance, calling his comments “tantamount to a declaration of war.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS