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China vexed by US Navy ships sailing through Taiwan Strait
BEIJING, Nov 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – China expressed concern on Thursday
after two US Navy ships sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the third such
operation this year.
“China will pay close attention to and stay informed of US warships sailing
through the Taiwan Strait from beginning to end, and has already expressed
its concern to the US,” said Chinese foreign ministry official spokesman Geng
Shuang at a regular press briefing in Beijing Thursday.
He urged the US to respect the “One China Principle” to avoid “impairing
China-US relations and the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.”
China still sees Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunified, despite
the two sides being ruled separately since the end of a civil war on the
mainland in 1949.
That means Beijing views any ships passing through the straits as
essentially a breach of its sovreignty — while the US and many other nations
view the route as international waters open to all.
At a monthly press briefing by China’s defence ministry Thursday, official
spokesman Ren Guoqiang said that the People’s Liberation Army would maintain
a “high degree of alert”.
Lieutenant Rachel McMarr, a spokeswoman for the US Pacific Fleet, said the
destroyer USS Stockdale and oiler USNS Pecos sailed through the strait in a
“routine” transit on Wednesday.
“The ships’ transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US
commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” McMarr said in a statement.
“The US Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international
law allows.”
Beijing protested after the US Navy sailed two warships through the Taiwan
Strait on October 22.
A US official told AFP that Chinese ships had asserted a “presence” during
Wednesday’s sailing, but all interactions between the two navies were “safe
and professional”.
The naval tensions come just days before scheduled talks between US
president Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in
Argentina this week.
Trump is expected to press Xi to avert the stepped-up tariffs by throwing
open china’s markets to US competition and protecting foreign companies’
intellectual property.
BSS/AFP/RY/1942 hrs