U.S. warships sailed through the Strait of Taiwan on Sunday, the latest in a series of passages that have irked China because they demonstrate America’s commitment to defend Taiwan and protect freedom of navigation around the world.
China’s Foreign Ministry expressed “strong dissatisfaction” on Monday after two U.S. warships sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in a Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP).
Two U.S. warships passed through the Taiwan Strait on Thursday in a Freedom of Navigation Patrol (FONOP). The passage was taken by Taiwan as a heartening show of American support, and by China as an annoying challenge to its military might and territorial integrity.
China responded to the latest U.S. Navy freedom of navigation patrol in the South China Sea by declaring it would “take necessary actions to protect state sovereignty” and touting its deployment of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles as a step toward doing so. Chinese state media pointedly described the missiles as “ship-killers.”
The destroyer USS McCampbell conducted a Freedom of Navigation Patrol (FONOP) on Monday that brought it within 12 nautical miles of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has greatly increased its presence in the Taiwan Strait, part of the greater South China Sea, in response to the growing number of freedom of navigation operations by the U.S. Navy, the South China Morning Post reported on Monday.
Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe told a security forum on Thursday that China will use military force to prevent Taiwan from asserting its independence.
Two American warships, the guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins and the missile cruiser USS Antietam, conducted a freedom of navigation patrol near Woody Island in the South China Sea on Sunday – the same island in the Paracels chain where China landed nuclear-capable long-range bombers for the first time last week.
The latest American freedom of navigation patrol in the South China Sea provoked an angry response from China, delivered through editorials in state-run media that blamed the United States for escalating tensions in the region.
The latest freedom of navigation patrol for the U.S. Navy in the South China Sea brought the destroyer USS John S. McCain to within 12 nautical miles of a Chinese artificial island off the Philippine coast on Thursday.
President Trump approved a Pentagon plan this year that will require regular challenges to China’s excessive maritime claims in the South China Sea, Breitbart News has learned.
WASHINGTON – The Navy has made several requests to conduct operations that would challenge China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, but the administration has not granted them, Breitbart News has learned.
