The United States has sent a fresh message to China on the Taiwan issue. A U.S. warship crossed the Taiwan Strait separating China and Taiwan on Tuesday. The shipwreck occurred for the first time since Chinese President Xi Jinping’s virtual meeting with US President Joe Biden on November 15.
However, the Seventh Fleet of the United States said in a press release that the Arleg Berg missile destroyer had crossed the Taiwan Strait as part of normal navigation or routine transit. The statement added that the United States is committed to keeping the Indo-Pacific region independent and free. And this sea voyage has been termed as the eleventh exercise of the current year.
At a virtual meeting between Biden and Sir on November 15, Beijing sent a strong message to Washington about the future of Taiwan. At the time, Chinese state media reported that the United States had warned Taiwan about inciting independence. Even Biden was told not to play with fire.
U.S. warships occasionally conduct exercises in the Taiwan style.
Beijing has also sent a strong message to the United States. Beijing claims Taiwan and its surrounding waters as its territory.
Many other countries, including the United States, consider this waterway to be an international open sea. The United States and its allies have recently stepped up their efforts in the wake of China’s escalating military aggression against Taiwan and China’s crackdown on the disputed South China Sea. China has protested in recent years that warships from the United Kingdom, Canada, France and Australia have been using the Taiwan route.
Colin Koho, a research fellow at the Raja Ratna School of International Studies in Singapore, keeps track of US-announced transit vessels in the Taiwan system. According to him, 9 ships of the United States have sailed this route in 2019. In 2020, this number increased to 15. So far this year, the number has risen to 11.
