A US Navy warship sailed across the Taiwan Strait on Thursday, for the first time since President Joe Biden came to power.
USS John S. McCain, a guided missile destroyer based in Japan, conducted a routine journey through the channel, which divides China and Taiwan in accordance with international law, said Lt. Joe Keiley, a spokesman for the 7th. US Navy fleet. in declaration.
The ship’s transit demonstrated “the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he said, adding that the military would “continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law permits”.
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Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, said at a news conference that his country had been “closely” monitoring the warship.
“China will continue to maintain a high level of alert at all times, respond to all threats and provocations at all times and resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said. “The US is expected to play a constructive role for regional peace and stability, not the other way around.”
The day precedes Biden’s highly anticipated speech on foreign policy at the State Department on Thursday, in which he is expected to present his vision for global challenges.
Tensions between the United States and China increased under the Trump administration, which increased support for Taiwan through arms sales and visits by top American officials. They have already been aggravated by disagreements over the South China Sea, Hong Kong, coronavirus and trade.
In one of his last acts as secretary of state, Mike Pompeo lifted long-standing restrictions on contacts between American and Taiwanese officials, a move that angered Beijing and sparked a furious reaction in Chinese state media.
China sees Taiwan, which has a population of 24 million, as a renegade separatist province. When the Chinese civil war between communists and nationalists ended in 1949 with the first triumphant, the latter established a rival government in Taipei to rule the island off the southeast coast of mainland China.
Since the 1970s, the United States has officially recognized only Beijing and the State Department said on Wednesday that its support for a “one China” policy for Taiwan has not changed. Under that policy, the United States recognizes the People’s Republic of China as the only legal government and has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
However, Pompeo’s successor, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, expressed a strong “bipartisan commitment to Taiwan” at his Senate confirmation hearing last week.
“Part of that commitment is to ensure that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself against aggression. And this is a commitment that will absolutely last in a Biden government,” he said.
He added that “without a doubt” China represents the most significant challenge for the United States of any nation.
Ed Flanagan contributed.