A near collision between a Chinese military vessel and a US destroyer in the Taiwan Strait. This was reported by the Canadian site Global News, which had a journalist on board the Canadian frigate participating in the joint mission with the US in the waters of the South China Sea. According to the reconstruction of the site, the Chinese ship accelerated cutting in front of the bow of the destroyer USS Chung-Hoon, with a maneuver that the commander of the Canadian ship HMCS Montreal described as “unprofessional”.
When the Chinese ship changed its course, it notified the US ship to move away to avoid the collision, at which point the Americans in turn would have asked the Chinese to move away, in the end they had to change course to avoid the collision. For the Canadian commander, Captain Paul Mountford, the incident was “clearly caused by the Chinese”. “The fact that it was announced over the radio clearly shows that it was intentional,” he added.
Austin: “A conflict in the Straits would be devastating”
A conflict in the Taiwan Strait would be “devastating”. This is the warning reiterated by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who spoke at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a security conference underway in Singapore. “The security of trade routes and global supply chains depends on it. As does freedom of navigation around the world. Make no mistake: a conflict in the Taiwan Strait would be devastating,” he warned in a message to China, which would like to reunite the island with the motherland.
The United States is “determined” to maintain peace and security in the area, Austin assured, “as are a number of other countries around the world, whose numbers continue to grow”. But then the head of the Pentagon – whom Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu refused to meet in a bilateral meeting – said he was “deeply concerned” that Beijing “is not willing to commit more seriously to improving crisis management mechanisms”.
“For responsible defense leaders, the right time to speak is always, the right time to speak is always, and the right time to speak is now,” Austin punctuated.
Beijing against Austin: “It distorts the facts”
Beijing replies to the US defense secretary accusing him of “distorting the facts” on the status of Taiwan, whose freedom Washington claims it wants to defend. Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, which was also attended by the head of the Pentagon, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Central Military Commission of China, General Jiang Jianfeng said: “The US comments on Taiwan ignore the facts, distort the truth and they are completely wrong.”
Austin, he continued in his rebuke, “is trying to escape the principle of ‘one China'”, according to which Beijing claims complete sovereignty over Taiwan, “a sacred and inalienable part of Chinese territory”. “This principle has the consensus of the international community. It is the common aspiration and sacred responsibility of all Chinese people, including our compatriots in Taiwan, to complete the reunification of the motherland,” Jiang concluded.
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