2023-04-17 10:14:00
Image of the American destroyer USS Millius, which crossed the Taiwan Strait U.S. Navy | REUTERS
Several days ago, the Beijing government carried out important military maneuvers around the island, whose sovereignty it claims.
17 abr 2023 . Updated at 10:20 a.m.
The United States Army announced Monday that a missile destroyer conducted a routine transit this Sunday across the Taiwan Strait, a step that occurs at times of tension between Washington and Beijing and a few days after China deployed military maneuvers around the island.
The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Milius sailed through a corridor outside the territorial waters of any country and in which the international laws allow freedom of navigation and overflight, according to a statement released today by the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet.
The transit of the Milius through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The US Army flies, navigates and operates where international law allows, adds the official text.
This same ship sailed last week through waters close to the Spratly Islandsand archipelago in the South China Sea that Beijing disputes with the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Bruni.
The Chinese Army then condemned the passage of the US destroyer, which it described as an illegal entry and without the approval of the Chinese Government.
The presence of the US destroyer in the area coincides with an escalation of tensions between China and the US on account of the meeting in California (USA) held on April 5 by the Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing-wen, and the speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy.
In response to the meeting, China deployed four days of intense military maneuvers around Taiwan which included a simulation of the blockade of the island and in which the Shandong participated, the second aircraft carrier of the Asian country and the first of national manufacture.
The island is one of the biggest sources of conflict between China and the United States, mainly because Washington is Taiwan’s main arms supplier and will be its greatest military ally in the event of a war with the Asian giant.
Beijing considers Taiwan a rebel province since the Kuomintang nationalists withdrew there in 1949 after losing the civil war against the communist army.
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