WASHINGTON – US Navy has declared transit of another one of its warshipsthrough the Taiwan Strait, even after a new US-China trade pact and there-election of Taiwan’s anti-China president, in a move likely to irkBeijing.
The passage on Thursday of the USS Shiloh guided-missile cruiser throughthe narrow waterway, separating the island from the Chinese mainland, wasfirst announced by the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense and thenconfirmed by the US Seventh Fleet as a “routine” transit.
“The ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the UScommitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” fleet spokesman Lieutenant JoeKeiley declared, insisting that “the US Navy will continue to fly, sail andoperate anywhere international law allows.”
The development came a day after US President Donald Trump and his Chinesecounterpart Xi Jinping sealed a “phase one” trade deal as part of a broaderbid to reduce trade tensions that have stirred up global markets for morethan a year.
The deal, however, is unlikely to resolve persisting and much widerstrategic tensions between the US and an increasingly powerful China.
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There has been no immediate reaction from Beijing on the latest passage ofthe US warship through the Taiwan Strait. While China says it does notoppose “normal passage” of foreign vessels through the strait, it hascensured trips aimed at sending a geopolitical signal.
The passage came five days after the island’s President Tsai Ing-wen – whoseeks greater US military support to counter any threat from mainland China– won a landslide re-election victory. During her first term, Tsai hascourted greater American military backing to defy Beijing’s long-standingpolicy of regarding Taiwan as part of its territory.
In her first interview since re-election Tsai further insisted that Taiwanis already independent, saying: “We don’t have a need to declare ourselvesan independent state. We are an independent country already and we callourselves the Republic of China, Taiwan.”
