Global Courant
ISTANBUL
Highlighting tensions even after a meeting between the two countries’ top diplomats on Thursday, China said the coast guard had “fully watched” a US Coast Guard ship pass through the Taiwan Strait.
The China Coast Guard said in a statement that it “monitored” and “fully monitored” the USCGC Stratton (WMSL 752) as it passed through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday.
Chinese Coast Guard spokesman Gan Yu said in a statement that “China will resolutely protect its national sovereignty, security and maritime rights and interests.”
The US military’s 7th Fleet, stationed in the Asia-Pacific region, said in a statement that the legendary class national security cutter WMSL 752 made a “routine Taiwan Strait crossing” out of “high seas freedoms of navigation and overflight” on Wednesday. in accordance with international law.”
“The ship passed through a corridor in the (Taiwan) Strait beyond the territorial waters of any coastal state,” the flotilla said in a statement.
Pointing to what it calls a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” the statement said, “The U.S. military flies, sails and operates wherever international law permits.”
It is the first transit by a US ship through the Taiwan Strait since Beijing and Washington held high-level talks earlier this week when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xu Jinping in the Chinese capital.
The passage of any foreign military vessel normally triggers an equal reaction from Beijing on the waterway fully claimed by China.
Separately, the island nation’s Ministry of Defense said the Chinese People’s Liberation Army had about 29 aircraft flying around Taiwan on Thursday and about 10 navy ships sailing.
He added that four of the Chinese planes had crossed into the air defense identification zone, which Beijing did not recognize, as it claimed Taiwan as its territory.
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