BEIJING.- China accused the United States on Thursday of abusing international law with its military exercises in the Western Pacific a day after a US Navy destroyer sailed through the Taiwan Strait.
Although China accepts direct communications between the respective military commands, Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said that the activity of US warships and warplanes “on China’s doorstep” is the fundamental cause of the problems between the two. military powers.
“The United States should stop abusing international law, desist from all dangerous and provocative conduct, and strictly restrain troop activities on the front lines, which is the fundamental way to avoid accidents at sea and in the air,” he said at his conference. monthly press.
The USS John Finn sailed on Wednesday along the 160-kilometer (100-mile) wide sea route that separates China from Taiwan, a self-governing island over which Beijing claims sovereignty.
China agreed to resume military contacts with the United States at a meeting of Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in November in California. One of the arguments for the decision was to be able to handle an unintentional collision or other possible accident in waters patrolled by both such as the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.
The United States maintains that its actions are protected by international laws that guarantee freedom of navigation.
“No member of the international community should feel intimidated or coerced into giving up their rights and freedoms,” the US Seventh Fleet said in a news release about the John Finn’s transit through the strait. “The United States armed forces fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows.”
China has gained the ability to project its military power into the Pacific, causing conflict with the United States, long the dominant military power in the region.
One goal of U.S. military activity is to deter China from attacking Taiwan or using its force to assert its territorial claims in disputes with smaller neighbors like the Philippines.
Source: With information from AP
