China described the passage of two US Navy warships through the Taiwan Strait yesterday as “trapping into someone else’s property.”
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Cao Licien assessed the passage of USS Antietam and USS Chancellorsville ships through the strait that separates the mainland and Taiwan Island at a press conference in Beijing today.
Stating that US warships frequently show power in the region in the name of “freedom of navigation,” Spokesperson Cao said, “This has nothing to do with making the region free and open. This is a provocation aimed at ‘freedom from encroaching on someone else’s property and a deliberate sabotage of regional peace and stability.” said.
The US Navy’s 7th Fleet in the Pacific announced yesterday that two “cruiser” type warships “routinely crossed the Taiwan Strait.”
The statement emphasized that “the ships used a corridor that is not in the territorial waters of any of the countries that have a coast on the Bosphorus.”
The crossing was the US Navy’s first cruise on the Bosphorus since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, which is in a sovereignty conflict with China, earlier this month.
In a statement, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Front Command also declared “vigilance” for the passage of ships. The message was that “they are watching the passage closely and are ready to repel a possible provocation.”
Considering Taiwan as a part of its territory, China believes the Bosphorus to be its territorial waters and sovereignty. The United States, on the other hand, argues that it has the right of passage within the scope of freedom of navigation in the region, which it considers “international waters.”
