The US Navy presented this trip as a “routine” transit, but also proof of the “commitment” of the United States for the autonomy of the island.
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Nearly a month after the sharp rise in tensions between China and the United States over Taiwan, two American warships entered the Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from Chinese territory, on Sunday August 28.
L’USS Antietam and theUSS Chancellorsville made a transit “routinely”, explained the American Seventh Fleet, to which they belong. This maneuver is also a way of showing “America’s Commitment to a Free and Open Indo-Pacific Region”commented the US Navy.
It is the first time that American ships have ventured into this area since the Chinese military exercises around Taiwan. These two boats took a corridor of the strait whose waters do not belong to any state, said the US Navy.
China is “aware of all [les] movements” American ships and troops “stand ready (…) to thwart any provocation”reacted the spokesman for the Eastern Command of the Chinese army, Shi Yie. “The Army is Watching” the two ships and “the situation is normal”commented for its part the Ministry of Defense of Taiwan.