Desk Report
Publish: 28 Aug 2022, 05:11 pm
Photo: Collected
Two US
Navy warships sailed through international waters in the Taiwan Strait on
Sunday, the first such operation since a visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi enraged China which regards the island as its territory.
The US
Navy, confirming a Reuters report, said cruisers Chancellorsville and Antietam
were carrying out the ongoing operation. Such operations usually take eight to
12 hours to complete and are closely monitored by China's military.
In
recent years US warships, and on occasion those from allied nations such as
Britain and Canada, have routinely sailed through the strait, drawing the ire
of China which claims Taiwan against the objections of its democratically
elected government.
Pelosi's
Taiwan trip in early August infuriated China which saw it as a US attempt to
interfere in its internal affairs. China subsequently launched military drills
near the island which have since continued.
"These
(US) ships transited through a corridor in the strait that is beyond the
territorial sea of any coastal state," the US Navy said.
The
operation demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open
Indo-Pacific, and the US military flies, sails and operates anywhere international
law allows, the navy said.
Taiwan's
defence ministry said the ships were sailing in a southerly direction and that
its forces were observing but that "the situation was as normal".
The
narrow Taiwan Strait has been a frequent source of military tension since the
defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a
civil war with the communists, who established the People's Republic of China.
Pelosi's
visit to Taiwan was followed around a week later by a group of five other US
lawmakers, with China's military responding by carrying out more exercises near
the island.
Senator
Marsha Blackburn, a US lawmaker on the Senate Commerce and Armed Services
committees, arrived in Taiwan on Thursday on the third visit by a US dignitary
this month, defying pressure from China to halt the trips.
The
administration of US President Joe Biden has sought to keep tension between
Washington and Beijing from boiling over into conflict, reiterating that congressional
trips are routine.
The
United States has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan but is bound by
law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.
China
has never ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control.
Taiwan says the People's Republic of China has never ruled the island and so has no claim to it, and that only Taiwan's 23 million people can decide their future._Reuters
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