U.S. Warships at the Straits of Taiwan

Washington: Two U.S. Naval force warships cruised through international waters in the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, the primary such activity since a visit to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi angered China which sees the island as its region.

The U.S. Navy, affirming a Reuters report, said cruisers Chancellorsville and Antietam were completing the continuous activity. Such tasks typically require 8 to 12 hours to finish and are firmly observed by China’s military.

Lately, U.S. warships, and once in a while those from allied countries like Britain and Canada, have regularly cruised through the waterway, getting under the skin of China which claims Taiwan against the objections of its democratically elected government.

Pelosi’s Taiwan trip toward the beginning of August incensed China which considered it to be a U.S. attempt to interfere in its internal affairs. China hence launched military drills close to the island which have since proceeded.

“These (U.S.) ships traveled through a corridor in the waterway that is beyond the territorial ocean of any coastal state,” the U.S. Naval force said.

The activity exhibits the United States’ obligation to a free and open Indo-Pacific, and the U.S. military flies, sails, and works anyplace international law allows, the Navy said.

John Kirby, a representative for the U.S. National Security Council, repeated that position on CNN, saying the boats’ entry was extremely predictable with the U.S. “one-China” strategy and of looking for “a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

Kirby added that the activity was arranged long ago. The Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command said it was following the boats and warning them. “Troops in the theater remain on high alert and are ready to thwart any provocation at any time” it included an explanation.

Taiwan’s defense ministry said the boats were sailing in a southerly direction and that its forces were noticing yet that the situation was as normal. The restricted Taiwan Strait has been a frequent source of military tension since the defeated Republic of China government escaped to Taiwan in 1949 in the wake of losing a civil war with the communists, who laid out the People’s Republic of China.

Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was followed around a week later by a group of five other U.S. administrators, with China’s military responding by doing more activities close to the island.

Senator Marsha Blackburn, a U.S. official on the Senate Commerce and Armed Services councils, showed up in Taiwan on Thursday on the third visit by a U.S. dignitary this month, opposing tension from China to end the trips.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has looked to hold strain between Washington and Beijing back from bubbling over into conflict, reiterating that legislative trips are routine.

The United States has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan but is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself. China has never precluded utilizing power to bring Taiwan under its influence. Taiwan says the People’s Republic of China has never controlled the island so, has no claim to it, and that only Taiwan’s 23 million people can choose their future.