The Chinese Army condemned the passage of the American destroyer USS Halsey through the Taiwan Strait this Wednesday (8), less than two weeks before the inauguration of the island’s president-elect and current vice-president, William Lai (Lai Ching-te) .
“The (Arleigh Burke-class destroyer) USS Halsey sailed through the waters of the Taiwan Strait on May 8, seeking notoriety,” military spokesman Li Xi said in a statement posted on the official account of the Army’s Eastern Theater of Operations. Chinese on the social network Weibo.
According to Li, the Eastern Theater of Operations organized “troops to follow and monitor all movements” of the ship, which was driven away “in accordance with the law.”
“The Eastern Theater forces are always on high alert, ready to defend national sovereignty, security and regional peace and stability,” the spokesperson added.
The USS Halsey sailed through a corridor outside the territorial waters of any country and where international law “allows freedom of navigation and overflight”, the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet claimed in a statement, according to which the maneuver “demonstrates the commitment of United States in defending freedom of navigation for all nations as a principle.”
“No member of the international community should be intimidated or coerced into giving up their rights and freedoms,” the note also says.
Since the January 13 presidential election, in which Lai – seen as a “pro-independence” in Beijing’s eyes – won with 40% of the vote, China has intensified its pressure on Taiwan with several measures, including increasing patrols of Coast Guard around the Kinmen Islands and the modification of several air routes between the two sides of the Strait.
Taiwan – where the Chinese nationalist Kuomintang army retreated after being defeated by communist troops in the Chinese civil war – has been governed autonomously since 1949, although China claims sovereignty over the island, considering it a rebel province for whose “ reunification” did not rule out the use of force.
The island is one of the main sources of conflict between China and the United States, mainly because Washington is Taiwan’s main weapons supplier and would be its biggest military ally in the event of a military conflict with the Asian giant. (With EFE Agency)
