BEIJING – US Navy Warship in Taiwan Strait, South China Sea to provokeChina.
A US Navy guided missile cruiser, Antietam, passed through the TaiwanStrait in the direction of the South China Sea on 20 September, thetelevision channel NHK reported Saturday citing a representative of the USSeventh Fleet, based in the Pacific.
The command noted that Washington was thereby demonstrating its urge tosupport the concept of a free Into-Pacific region, where internationalsailing rules are complied with.
A US Navy ship last sailed though the Strait of Taiwan late last month,with such passes having more than once sparked outrage in China. In thewake of such incidents, the PRC’s Foreign Ministry has called for the US tostrictly follow and respect the One-China policy that Washington de juresupports, having switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in1979, although the US remains the island’s biggest arms supplier and mostimportant unofficial ally.
China, which does not acknowledge Taiwan as a separate country, hasmaintained that the Taiwan Strait is Chinese territory, while the US andother countries such as France and Canada view the body as internationalwaters.
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Beijing has also blasted a US-Taiwan arms deal and threatenedsanctions and blacklisting related to US companies if it is carried out,Sputnik has reported.
“China urges the US to fully recognise the highly sensitive and harmfulnature of the relevant issue, abide by the One-China principle and thethree China-US joint communiqués, refrain from selling F-16 fighter jets toTaiwan and stop arms sales to and military contact with Taiwan”, ChineseForeign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in an 18 August statement.
