Beijing, April 17. The Chinese Army today condemned the passage of the American destroyer Arleigh Burke USS Milius through the Taiwan Strait this Sunday, a week after Beijing deployed military maneuvers around the island.
“The Arleigh Burke USS Milius sailed through the waters of the Taiwan Strait on April 16, causing a public uproar,” military spokesman Shi Yi said today in a statement posted on the official account of the Chinese Army’s Eastern Theater of Operations on Wechat social network.
According to Shi, the Eastern Theater of Operations organized “troops to follow and watch” the US warship.
“East Theater forces are always on high alert, ready to defend national sovereignty, security, and regional peace and stability,” the spokesperson added.
The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Milius sailed through a corridor outside territorial waters of any country and where international law allows 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, sails, and operates where international law allows,” the official text added. .
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 exercises around Taiwan that included a simulation of the blockade of the island and in which the Shandong, the second aircraft carrier of the Asian country and the first of national manufacture, participated.
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 would be its greatest military ally in the event of a war with the Asian giant. EFE
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