China says U.S. undermining stability after navy warships sails through Taiwan Strait
The Chinese military criticized the United States on Thursday for undermining peace and stability after a US Navy warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier.
A spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command said that the Chinese military tracked the USS Curtis Wilbur as the destroyer conducted what the US Navy called a “routine Taiwan Strait transit.”
“The move artificially creates risk factors in the Taiwan Strait, deliberately undermines the regional peace and stability, we are firmly opposed to this,” the Chinese spokesman said.
On Wednesday, the US Navy’s 7th fleet said that “the ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Taiwan has a population of 24 million people. However, China views it as a renegade breakaway province. US warships periodically conduct navigation exercises in the strait, often triggering angry responses from China which claims self-ruled, democratic Taiwan as part of its territory.
The Biden administration said that its support of a “one-China” policy over Taiwan has not changed. Under this policy, the US recognizes the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government. It doesn’t have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
