The US Navy announced that one of its ships passed through the Taiwan Strait, claimed by China, a week after Beijing carried out military exercises, staging the siege of the island.
The USS Milius “performed a routine passage through the Taiwan Strait” on Sunday “in waters where freedom of navigation and overflight on the high seas apply under international law,” the US Navy said in a statement. release.
“The vessel transited through a corridor of the strait, located beyond any territorial sea of a coastal state,” the statement added.
Last week, the same US warship conducted an operation in the South China Sea, passing within 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) of Mischief Reef, also claimed by China and other countries in the region.
At the time, the Chinese army’s Southern Theater Command denounced the destroyer’s “intrusion” into the Spratly Islands, known in Chinese as Nansha.
The passage of the USS Milius through the South China Sea occurred when China was conducting military exercises around Taiwan, in protest of the visit to the US of the island’s leader, Tsai Ing-wen.
China said it had deployed fighter jets carrying “live ammunition” and the aircraft carrier Shandong to carry out “simulated attacks” against targets in Taiwan after encircling the territory with dozens of planes and warships.
“Several groups of H-6K fighters with live ammunition carried out various simulated attacks against key targets on the island of Taiwan,” the People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command said, noting that Shandong also “participated in the exercises ”.
Beijing claims virtually the entire South China Sea, a strategic trade route rich in energy and fisheries resources, but Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam also have claims.
Source: TSF
