China��says��US threatening peace as warship transits Taiwan Strait

��������������/�մ����ʷ�����—��China accused the United States on Wednesday of threatening the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait after a US warship again sailed through the sensitive waterway that separates Taiwan from its giant neighbor.��

The US Navy’s 7th Fleet said the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS��Curtis Wilbur��conducted a��“routine Taiwan Strait transit”��on Tuesday in accordance with international law.��

“The ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The United States military will continue to fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows,”��it said.��

A spokesman for China’s Eastern Theatre Command expressed strong opposition and condemned the move, which comes amid heightened tensions between the two powers.��

“The US actions sends the wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces, deliberately disrupting the regional situation and endangering peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,”��he said.��

Chinese forces tracked and monitored the ship throughout its voyage, he added.��

China believes Taiwan’s democratically elected government is bent on a formal declaration of independence for the island, a red line for Beijing.��

Taiwan President Tsai��Ing-wen��says they are already an independent state called the Republic of China, its formal name.��

Taiwan’s��Defense Ministry said the US ship had sailed in a southerly direction through the strait and the��“situation was as normal.”��

The US Navy has been conducting such operations every month or so.��

The United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is its most important international backer and a major seller of arms.��

Military tension between Taiwan and Beijing have spiked over the past year, with Taipei complaining of China repeatedly sending its air force into Taiwan’s air defense zone.��

Some of those activities can involve multiple fighters and bombers.��

China has said its activities around Taiwan are aimed at protecting China’s sovereignty. Taiwan’s government has denounced it as attempts at intimidation.��—��Reuters��