Washington: The United States sent a guided-missile destroyer and a cargo ship through the Taiwan Strait on Monday in a maneuver designed to signal to China that the US will defend the right to freedom of navigation at sea, a spokesperson for the US Pacific Fleet said on Monday.
“USS Stethem (DDG 63) and USNS Cesar Chavez (T-AKE-14) conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit on Feb. 25 (local time), in accordance with international law, Lieutenant Commander Tim Gorman said in an email, as reported by Fox News. The maneuver, which saw the US vessels shadowed by Chinese warships, occurred only hours after President Donald Trump said that substantial progress? had been made in trade talks with Beijing, the report noted. The transit through the strait “demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Gorman said. He added that the US would continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows. Monday’s passage marked the fourth time since October that US Navy vessels sailed through the strait, in defiance of Chinese claims of territorial sovereignty over Taiwan. Earlier this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that his country has made no pledge to abstain from using force to counter foreign meddling and separatist movements in Taiwan. Beijing does not recognize Taiwanese independence, claiming that the island is a part of China, while Taiwan does not recognize the central Chinese government. Trump on Sunday announced in a Twitter post that he would delay a planned increase in tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods that was originally set for March 1. China and the United States have been engaged in a trade conflict since last June when Trump announced the United States would subject $50 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent tariffs in a bid to fix the US-Chinese trade deficit. (PTI)
