- The destroyer USS Benfold made a “regular” transit of the Taiwan Strait in international waters,
- “Approximately once a month, the United States has been making these journeys, which has angered China,
- In a statement, the Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army claimed that its troops had followed the ship all along and “warned” it.
China’s military declared on Wednesday after another American vessel passed through the volatile waterway that the United States is a “maker of security hazards” in the Taiwan Strait.
The destroyer USS Benfold made a “regular” transit of the Taiwan Strait in international waters, according to the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet, “in conformity with international law.”
Approximately once a month, the United States has been making these journeys, which has angered China, which sees them as a gesture of support for Taiwan, the democratically-run island that Beijing considers to be Chinese territory.
In a statement, the Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army claimed that its troops had followed the ship all along and “warned” it.
In a statement, it claimed that “the United States frequently provokes and acts arrogantly, completely demonstrating that the United States is a destroyer of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and a maker of security threats in the Taiwan Strait.”
“Theatre forces protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity forcefully at all times while remaining on high alert.”
In the Strait, the ship “transited via a passage that is outside the territorial sea of any coastal State,” according to the U.S. Navy.
“The ship’s passage across the Taiwan Strait shows the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the statement reads.
The U.S. ship travelled north across the strait, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense, and the situation in the waterway was “as normal.”
The Benfold has been engaged in two “Freedom of Navigation Operations” in the contentious South China Sea over the past week.
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