China says US threatens peace while warship crosses Taiwan Strait Politics News

The USS Curtis Wilbur crossed the strait on Tuesday in what the U.S. described as a “normal” transition.

China has accused the U.S. of threatening the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait after the U.S. warship sailed across the seas that separate Taiwan and its giant neighbor.

The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said Arleigh Burke-class guided missiles were carried by the USS Curtis Wilbur on Tuesday as a “regular passage of the Taiwan Strait” under international law.

“The passage of the ship across the Taiwan Strait demonstrates its commitment to the free and open Indo-Pacific of the United States,” he said in a statement on his website. “The U.S. military will continue to fly, navigate and operate wherever international law allows.”

A spokesman for China’s Eastern Theater Command expressed strong opposition on Wednesday amid high tensions between the two powers.

“U.S. actions are sending the wrong signals to Taiwan’s independence, deliberately disrupting the regional situation and endangering peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” he said.

Chinese forces tracked and tracked the ship during the voyage, he added.

China believes Taiwan’s democratically elected government is bent on a formal declaration of independence for the island, the red line of Beijing.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has said they are already an independent state called the Republic of China, the formal name of the island.

The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said the destroyer swept the strait southward and that “the situation was normal.”

The U.S. Navy conducts such operations on a monthly basis. 7. The fleet is based in Japan.

The United States, like most countries, does not have a formal diplomatic relationship with Taiwan, but is a major international ally and a prominent arms dealer.

Military tensions between Taiwan and Beijing have escalated in the past year, with Taipei complaining that China has repeatedly sent its air force to Taiwan’s air defense zone.

Some of these activities can involve multiple fighters and bombers.

China has said that activities in Taiwan are aimed at protecting China’s sovereignty. The Taiwanese government has condemned China’s maneuvers as a scare.