Beijing, April 17 The Chinese military today condemned the passage of the American destroyer Arleigh Burke USS Milius through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, a week after Beijing deployed military maneuvers around the island.
“Arleigh Burke’s USS Milius sailed through the waters of the Taiwan Strait on April 16, causing public outcry,” military spokesman Shi Yi said today in a statement posted to the theater’s official account. of Chinese army operations on the social network Wechat. .
According to Shi, the Eastern Theater of Operations organized “troops to track and monitor” the US warship.
“The Eastern Theater forces remain 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 in a corridor outside the territorial waters of any country and where international law allows freedom of navigation and overflight, according to a statement released today by the Navy’s Seventh Fleet American. .
“The transit of the Milius through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The United States military flies, sails, and operates where international law permits,” adds the official text.
The presence of the American destroyer in the area coincides with an escalation of tensions between China and the United States due to the meeting in California (United States) held on April 5 by 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 island’s blockade and to which Shandong, the Asian country’s second aircraft carrier and first domestically manufactured, 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 biggest military ally in the event of a war with the Asian giant. . ECE
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