The US military released video on Monday exposing a “dangerous” Chinese maneuver in the Taiwan Strait, in which a Chinese navy ship jerked into the path of a US warship.
Watch the moment a Chinese warship nearly collided with an American destroyer in the Taiwan Strait pic.twitter.com/WBJkHUZaJG
– Sky News (@SkyNews) June 5, 2023
The incident took place on Saturday when the destroyer USS Chung-Hoon and the Canadian frigate HCS Montreal carried out what the United States calls a “freedom of navigation operation” between the island of Taiwan and mainland China.
China claims Taiwan as its province and maintains that the Straits is part of its exclusive economic zone, while the US and allied countries regularly navigate and fly over the airspace, to emphasize their notion that these are international waters.
During Saturday’s passage, the Chinese guided-missile destroyer overtook Chung-Hoon on the port side and deviated from her bow by a distance of about 137 meters, according to the US Indo-Pacific Command.
The US destroyer held its course but slowed to 10 knots “to avoid a collision,” the military said.
The images released this Monday show the Chinese ship cutting the course of the American destroyer and righting itself to start sailing in a parallel direction.
The Indo-Pacific Command said the actions violated maritime rules for safe passage in international waters.
The Chinese ship did not attempt a similar maneuver on the Canadian frigate, which was sailing behind the American destroyer.
“The transit of the Chung-Hoon and Montreal through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the joint commitment of the United States and Canada to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the US military said in a statement. “The US military flies, sails and operates safely and responsibly anywhere permitted under international law,” he added.
The United States recently accused China of also carrying out an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” in the air over the South China Sea.
A Chinese fighter, model J-16, is seen in a video released by the Pentagon flying close to a US aircraft, an RC-135, which is normally used for surveillance. The Chinese pilot then moved well ahead of the RC-135, which was forced to fly through turbulence caused by the Chinese fighter.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, despite protests from neighboring countries. The United States also does not recognize Beijing’s claims to a strategic maritime territory, through which some five billion dollars (about 4.680 million euros) pass each year in international trade.
The incident in the Taiwan Straits occurred on the same day that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Minister General Li Shangfu attended the Asia-Pacific region’s largest security event in Singapore, The Shangri-La Dialogue.
On Sunday, Li accused the United States and its allies of creating danger and trying to provoke China with their operations.
“It is better for countries, especially their warships and fighter planes, not to carry out approach operations to other countries’ territories,” Li said. “What’s the point of going there? In China we always say, ‘Mind your own business and I’ll mind mine,'” she argued.
Beijing and Washington signed agreements to deal with “unexpected events” between their air and naval forces, but China suspended communication between the two armies, due to military support and arms sales to Taiwan by the United States or the killing of a Chinese course. spy balloon in US airspace.
Beijing rejected a meeting between Austin and Li in Singapore this week. China frequently intercepts US and allied military aircraft and ships in the South and East China Seas and in the Taiwan Strait.
Similar actions resulted in a 2001 plane crash over the South China Sea between a Chinese fighter plane and a US Navy surveillance plane. The Chinese plane was destroyed and the pilot was killed.
The damaged US plane landed at a Chinese navy air force base, leading to the detention of the crew and a diplomatic standoff between the two countries.
Source: TSF
