The American destroyer USS Chung-Hoon passed through the Taiwan Strait on Thursday, January 5. informed about this press office US Seventh Fleet.
The states announced the passage of warships between China and Taiwan against the backdrop of last year’s aggravation of the situation around the island.
“The ship passed through a corridor in a strait that is outside the territorial sea of any coastal state,” the press service noted.
In addition, the Navy added that the purpose of the passage is to demonstrate the United States’ commitment to a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”
The aggravation of relations between China, Taiwan and the United States occurred in August 2022 after the unauthorized visit of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to the island of Taiwan. Beijing urged to refrain from this step. Later, the Chinese authorities reported serious problems in relations with the United States. The politician called her trip evidence of Washington’s commitment to supporting Taiwanese democracy.
On December 30, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Tan Kefei warned the US authorities about the risks associated with a possible transfer of Volcano anti-tank mining systems to Taiwan.
On Dec. 28, Politico noted that Washington was late in scaling up resources to defend Taiwan. The material says that the Chinese side has a large enough navy, as well as aircraft and ballistic missiles, to challenge US dominance in the waters of the Indo-Pacific region.
Official relations between the Chinese government and its island province were interrupted in 1949, when the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek, who lost in a civil war with the Communist Party of the People’s Republic of China, moved to Taiwan. Contact between the island and mainland China resumed in the late 1980s.
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