China voices ‘concern’ over US warships

CHINA said Tuesday it has expressed concern to the US over what it considered an affront to its sovereignty after two US warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait.

The move adds to increasingly fraught relations between the two countries, which have clashed over a number of issues, including trade, Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

Monday was t he second t ime i n t he space of t hree months that American warships had conducted so-called “freedom of navigation” exercises in t he Taiwan Stra it, a 180km wide stretch of water separating the Chinese mainland and the self-ruled democratic island.

Beijing “expressed its concern to t he US side” as “t he Taiwan issue concerns China’s sovereig nt y a nd ter r itor ia l i nteg r it y ”, Chinese foreig n ministr y spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing.

Hua said Beijing urged Washington to “scrupulously abide by the one-China principle” and “carefully handle the Tai- wan-related issues in an appropriate manner”.

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.

Colonel Rob Manning from the US Department of Defence told reporters that the USS Curtis Wilbur and USS Antietam conducted a routine transit to demonstrate US commitment “to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

Multiple Chinese warships shadowed the two US vessels during the transit, following at a safe distance, American defence officials told CNN.

Beijing recently conducted a series of military manoeuvres, including a live fire exercise in the Taiwan Strait in April, declaring its willingness to confront Taiwan’s “independence forces.”

Washington remains Taipei’s most powerful unofficial ally and its main arms supplier despite switching diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1979.

The Trump administration has sought closer ties to the island, announcing plans last month to sell it $330 million spare parts for several aircraft including the F-16 fighter and the C-130 cargo plane.

Taiwan’s premier Willia m Lai said during a parliamentar y session Tuesday that Taiwan respected the US right of pa s s a ge i n i nt e r nat ion a l waters a nd recognised “t he various ef for ts of t he US in mai nta i n i ng peace i n t he Asia-Pacific Region”.

Taiwan’s defence ministry had said in an earlier statement that the military was “closely monitoring the US warships during their passage”.