US warship crosses Taiwan Strait

Europe 1 with AFP 11:38 a.m., February 26, 2022

A US military ship crossed the Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from mainland China, for the second time since the beginning of the year, the US Navy announced, as tensions between Beijing and Washington remain heightened. .

The destroyer USS Ralph Johnson made a "routine" passage through the inlet, "in international waters and in accordance with international law," the United States Seventh Fleet said in a statement.

"Normal situation"

Taiwan's Ministry of Defense confirmed that an American ship was sailing through the strait, adding that the island's military was "fully monitoring its activities (...) near our waters and air, and that the situation was normal".

American ships are used to using this strait, to the great displeasure of Beijing, which considers the island as part of its territory.

The People's Republic of China regards foreign navigation in these waters as an attack on its sovereignty, while the United States and other countries consider this area to be part of international waters and therefore open to all.

Sailing the USS Ralph Johnson "demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," the Seventh Fleet said.

"The U.S. military flies, sails, and operates wherever international law permits."

Isolation attempt

Since the coming to power in Taiwan in 2016 of President Tsai Ing-wen, from a party considered traditionally hostile by Beijing, the People's Republic of China has multiplied its efforts to further isolate the island, from a point from a diplomatic and economic point of view, but also from a military point of view.

Beijing regularly threatens to use force in the event of a formal proclamation of independence in Taipei or of external intervention, in particular American.