His presence comes a week after extensive Chinese military exercises in the same area. The American destroyer USS Milius sailed this Sunday in the Taiwan Strait, claimed by Beijing, announced the American Navy. The USS Milius “performed a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait” on Sunday, the US Navy said in a statement, “in waters where freedom of navigation and overflight on the high seas applies in accordance with international law. “.
“The ship transited through a corridor in the strait located beyond any territorial sea of a coastal state,” the statement added. “The United States military flies, sails and operates wherever international law permits. Beijing said on Monday that it had monitored the passage of an American warship in the strait, and accused Washington of making “media hype” around the presence of its destroyer.
A “high level of alert”
Chinese forces in the area “continuously maintain a high level of alert and resolutely uphold national sovereignty and security, as well as regional peace and stability”, said Shi Yi, a military spokesman. . The situation at sea and in the air was “normal” around the island during the passage of the USS Milius, assured the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense on Monday.
China views with displeasure the rapprochement in recent years between the Taiwanese authorities and the United States which, despite the absence of official relations, provides the island with substantial military support. Beijing considers Taiwan as a province that it has not yet managed to reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. China is aiming for this reunification, by force if necessary.
An “illegal intrusion” for Beijing
Last week, the USS Milius sailed near the Spratly Islands, also claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea. The Chinese government had denounced an “illegal intrusion”. The passage of the American warship near Taiwan comes a week after extensive Chinese military exercises around the island.
For three days, Chinese ships and warplanes had simulated a “closure” of Taiwan, in retaliation for a meeting in the United States between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy . The exercises officially ended on April 10, but Chinese military ships and planes have continued to circulate around Taiwan ever since.
Tense and recurrent crossings
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said on Monday it detected four Chinese ships and 18 aircraft, four of which entered Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). Taiwan’s ADIZ is not identical to the island’s airspace, and includes a much larger area that overlaps part of China’s ADIZ, and even includes a portion of the mainland.
Western military ships regularly cross the Taiwan Strait, each time provoking protests from Beijing. The American destroyer USS Chung-Hoon crossed this strait in January, followed in February by two American and Canadian frigates. In August 2022, Beijing carried out its biggest military maneuvers around Taiwan in decades, in response to a visit to Taipei by then-Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.