China protests against US ships passing through Taiwan Strait

SANAA, Aug. 28 (YPA) – China’s Defense Ministry protested on Saturday against the passage of a US Navy warship and a coast guard boat through the waters between China and Taiwan, which Beijing considers a province.

In a statement posted on its website, the ministry described the move as “provocative” and expressed “strong opposition and condemnation” to it.

The statement considered that this move shows that “the United States is the biggest threat to peace and stability and causes security risks in the Taiwan Strait.”

For its part, the US Navy said that “the legal transit of ships through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to freedom of navigation and movement between the Indo-Pacific Oceans.”

Such exercises are seen as a warning to China, which recently conducted exercises near Taiwan and has not abandoned the principle of using force if necessary to take control of the island.

The US Navy conducts such operations almost every month, angering China, which considers Taiwan a province and has never renounced the use of force to control the island.

Taiwan, with a population of 23.6 million, seceded from China during a civil war that led to the Communist Party’s seizure of the mainland in 1949.

The United States has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but it maintains a diplomatic representation office in the capital, Taipei, and is the largest supplier of military equipment for its defense.