China condemns US military ship’s passage through Taiwan Strait

• The Chinese military criticized the aircraft carrier Halsey’s passage through the Taiwan Strait, accusing the United States of overhyping the event for political reasons.
• The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said the passage was routine and in accordance with international law.
• Critical to global trade, the Taiwan Strait serves as a transit point between China and countries such as the United States and Britain.

China’s military said a U.S. destroyer had passed through the Taiwan Strait as the U.S. and China make uneven efforts to restore regular military exchanges, less than two weeks before the island’s new president takes office. criticized.

Naval Chief Lieutenant Li Shi, a spokesman for China’s Eastern Theater Command, on Wednesday accused the United States of “publicly promoting” the passage of the aircraft carrier Halsey. Li said in a statement that the command, which oversees operations around the strait, “organized naval and air forces to monitor” the ship’s passage.

The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said in a statement that the Halsey “conducted a routine passage through the Taiwan Strait on May 8 through waters covered by freedom of navigation and overflight on the high seas in accordance with international law.”

Taiwan stands as a major line of defense against a global war with China and is vital to U.S. security.

The guided-missile destroyer passed through a strait corridor “beyond the territorial waters” of the coastal state, the fleet said in a statement.

“The Halsey’s passage through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to uphold freedom of navigation for all nations in principle,” the report said. “No member of the international community may be intimidated or coerced to give up their rights and freedoms. U.S. forces will fly, sail, and operate wherever international law permits.”

China’s accusation that this traffic was “publicly advertised” (essentially meaning heavily advertised for maximum political effect) is that the Chinese government has made this announcement available to anyone who wants free passage. This is a common tactic when China sees it as a way to push back on its insistence on some degree of control over what it can do. through the strait. There was no indication that the U.S. Navy would have acted differently in this incident, or that China’s reaction would have been any more violent.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said it was fully aware of the destroyer’s passage.

As Taiwan prepares to take office as its new president, China intensifies its aggressive moves against Taiwan.

“During the passage, Taiwan’s military closely monitored the surrounding sea and airspace, and the situation remained normal,” the ministry said.

The last such passage was on April 17, a day after the U.S. and Chinese defense secretaries held their first meeting since November 2022 in an effort to ease tensions in the region. In August 2022, after then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, the Chinese government suspended all such communications and military-to-military communications stalled. China responded by firing missiles over Taiwan and ramping up military exercises seen as rehearsals for a naval and air blockade of the island.

This important strait is 160 miles wide and separates China and Taiwan. Taiwan is an autonomous island democracy whose next president, William Lai, is scheduled to take office on May 20th. Mr. Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party supports a position of de facto independence in which Taiwan maintains a strong position. informal relations with the United States and other major powers;

Taiwan’s military will be on high alert around key dates such as the presidential and legislative elections in January this year, with China using its far more powerful military to intimidate voters and threatening unification between the two factions. They are wary of the possibility of trying to sway public opinion in support of Beijing’s claims that it is inevitable. .

The two countries were split during a civil war in 1949, and in 1996 China fired missiles into the north and south of the island, an ultimately counterproductive military move to prevent voters from supporting opposing candidates. We did an exercise. Since then, China has largely kept a low profile when it comes to elections, preferring instead to favor business groups and give unification-minded politicians and grassroots officials all-expenses paid visits to the mainland.

The busy Taiwan Strait is high seas and vital to global trade, but China views the passage of warships from the United States, Britain and other countries as a challenge to its sovereignty.

China sends naval vessels and fighter jets almost daily into the strait and other areas around the island in an effort to weaken Taiwan’s defenses and intimidate its 23 million people, who staunchly support its de facto independence. .

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Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense announced that 23 Chinese military aircraft and eight naval vessels were observed operating around Taiwan in the 24 hours ending at 6 a.m. Thursday. Eight of the planes crossed the strait median line and entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, prompting Taiwan to scramble jets and put coastal missile batteries and naval ships on alert.

In addition to navigating the Taiwan Strait, the U.S. Navy conducts so-called “freedom of navigation operations” in which it sails and flies close to Chinese-controlled terrain in the South China Sea, many of which are man-made islands that have already been invaded. There is. “Over the years it has been militarized with airfields, radar stations and other features.

China claims virtually all of the South China Sea, a major maritime highway for global trade, and has reacted violently to such moves, accusing the United States of destabilizing the region. There is. It frequently follows U.S. ships and aircraft with its assets and demands their immediate departure from the area. The United States maintains that it has the right to navigate the waters under international law, and a UN-backed arbitration panel rejected China’s claims, a ruling that Beijing ignored.