US sends warships to Taiwan Strait in defiance of Beijing

THE Pentagon has sent two US Navy warships through the Taiwan Strait in a move that risks adding to tensions between China and the international community over disputed access to the strategic waterway.

The increasing frequency of US voyages through the 112-mile sea passage between Taiwan and China has prompted objections from Beijing but is welcomed in Taipei as a sign of support from President Donald Trump against Chinese attempts to undermine Taiwan’s democratic self-rule.

China wants to annex separatist Taiwan, which has its own government, currency and military, and has stepped up attempts to isolate the island since it elected Tsai Ing-wen as president in 2016. Beijing suspects that her administration will push for formal independence.

Beijing’s sensitivity over military vessels passing through the strait makes it one of a growing number of flashpoints with Washington and its diplomatic allies over China’s territorial ambitions in the Indo-pacific, particularly the South China Sea. Last week, China reportedly made the unusual assertion that France had conducted an “illegal” passage through the Taiwan Strait earlier this month.

According to the UN convention on the law of the sea, much of the strait, outside the 12 nautical-mile territorial waters off China’s coast, is open to any military and civilian vessels.

Ren Guoqiang, a Chinese defence ministry spokesman, said Beijing had dispatched its own ships to identify the French vessel and “warn it to leave”. France’s invitation to a parade to mark 70 years since the founding of China’s navy was later withdrawn.

The voyage of the French frigate Vendémiaire was, reported Reuters, a sign that US allies are increasingly asserting freedom of navigation rights in international waterways near China, and it could open the door for other nations to consider similar operations.

The US destroyers that traversed the Strait on Sunday were identified as the William P Lawrence and Stethem.

“The ships’ transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-pacific,” said Cmdr Clay Doss, a spokesman for the US seventh fleet.