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China accuses the US of being the "maker of security risks"
China’s military said on Wednesday that the United States is the real “maker of security risks” in the Taiwan Strait.
This statement comes after another US warship passed through the waterway over which China has established a highly proprietary sentiment. China interprets the US military in these waters as provocations.
According to the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet, the destroyer class ship, the USS Benfold conducted a “routine” transit through the Taiwan Strait “in accordance with international law” in international waters. This is something that the United States has been doing roughly once a month.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">China says U.S. is 'maker of security risks' after Taiwan Strait sailing <a href="https://t.co/aJO9D818xe">https://t.co/aJO9D818xe</a> <a href="https://t.co/1LRaR93gDm">pic.twitter.com/1LRaR93gDm</a></p>— Reuters (@Reuters) <a href="https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1549660445820198913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 20, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In the past week, the Benfold had conducted two “Freedom of Navigation Operations” and has been operating in the South China Sea, a source of dispute and contention for China.
China, which still sees the democratically governed island of Taiwan as a Chinese territory, is angered by these passages through the strait and sees them as a signal that the US is supporting Taiwan in its mission for sovereignty from China.
China’s People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command issued a statement in which they said that “The frequent provocations and showing off by the United States fully demonstrate that the United States is a destroyer of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and a maker of security risks in the Taiwan Strait.”
The statement also said that their military followed the US destroyer through the strait and “warned” it.
They also said that “Theatre forces remain on high alert at all times and resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The US Navy argued that their destroyer “transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal State,” and that “the ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense, the Benfold sailed north through the strait, a maneuver that they described “as normal”.
