U.S. warships pass through Taiwan Strait amid heightened tensions with Beijing

[rooster59]

U.S. warships pass through Taiwan Strait amid heightened tensions with Beijing

By Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Jess Macy Yu

 

WASHINGTON/TAIPEI (Reuters) - Two U.S. warships passed through the Taiwan Strait on Saturday on a voyage that will likely be viewed in the self-ruled island as a sign of support by President Donald Trump amid heightened tension with China.

 

"Two U.S. Navy ships conducted a routine transit through the international waters of the Taiwan Strait on July 7-8 (local time)," Captain Charlie Brown, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Fleet, told Reuters in a statement.

 

"U.S. Navy Ships transit between the South China Sea and East China Sea via the Taiwan Strait and have done so for many years," Brown said.

 

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the destroyers Mustin and Benfold carried out the passage.

 

Earlier on Saturday, Taiwan's Defence Ministry said the ships were moving in a northeastern direction, adding that the situation was in accordance with regulations.

 

Washington has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help it defend itself and is the island's main source of arms. China regularly says Taiwan is the most sensitive issue in its ties with the United States.

 

The passage through the Taiwan Strait, the first such one by a U.S. Navy ship in about a year, follows a series of Chinese military drills around the island that have stoked tensions between Taipei and Beijing.

 

"The US is aggravating Taiwan Strait tensions," state-controlled Chinese tabloid The Global Times, which is run by the People’s Daily, said on Twitter.

 

"The PLA Navy must have monitored the situation and has it under control, a military affairs expert said after two US Navy vessels sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Saturday," it added.

 

China claims Taiwan as its own and has never renounced the use of force to bring under its control what it sees as a wayward province. Taiwan has shown no interest in being governed by the ruling Communist Party in Beijing.

 

The move comes as a U.S.-China trade fight is seen as dragging on for a potentially prolonged period, as the world's two biggest economies flex their muscles with no sign of negotiations to ease tensions.

 

Reuters first reported last month that the United States was considering sending a warship and had examined plans for an aircraft carrier passage, but ultimately did not pursue that option perhaps because of concerns about upsetting China.

 

The last time a U.S. aircraft carrier transited the Taiwan Strait was in 2007, during the administration of George W. Bush, and some U.S. military officials believe a carrier transit is overdue.

 

U.S. overtures towards Taiwan, from unveiling a new de facto embassy to passing the Taiwan Travel Act, which encourages U.S. officials to visit, have further escalated tension between Beijing and Taipei.

 

U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis discussed the delicate issue of Taiwan during his trip to China last month.

 

"The U.S. sending military ships through the Taiwan Strait is both a demonstration of its continuing support to Taiwan and of its willingness to exercise its maritime rights in China’s periphery," said Abraham Denmark, a former deputy assistant secretary of defence for East Asia under President Barack Obama.

 

China has alarmed Taiwan by ramping up military exercises this year, including flying bombers and other military aircraft around the island and sending its carrier through the narrow Taiwan Strait separating it from Taiwan.

 

In recent months, China's air force has held military manoeuvres near the island, which Taipei has called intimidation.

 

China's hostility toward Taiwan has grown since Tsai Ing-wen from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party won presidential elections on the island in 2016.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-07-08

[zydeco]

US, Vietnam and whoever else is willing ought to stake out some of those submerged reefs and build up islands bristling with weapons,  just like the Chinese did. Vietnam should send out an oil derrick in the place where the Chinese chased them off and start pumping under guard from an international flotilla. Stick it in the Chicoms' faces.

[IAMHERE]

This article makes me understand why the USA has military maneuvers with South Korea.

[bristolboy]

18 hours ago, zydeco said:

US, Vietnam and whoever else is willing ought to stake out some of those submerged reefs and build up islands bristling with weapons,  just like the Chinese did. Vietnam should send out an oil derrick in the place where the Chinese chased them off and start pumping under guard from an international flotilla. Stick it in the Chicoms' faces.

It's clear you read or watch too many third rate potboilers,

[bristolboy]

4 minutes ago, IAMHERE said:

This article makes me understand why the USA has military maneuvers with South Korea.

Maybe you should share your understanding with POTUS.

[geriatrickid]

I am quite certain that the USA  informed the Chinese long ago of the planned  journey. This avoids a surprise and lets the Chinese gasp in rehearsed horror.

[ballpoint]

20 hours ago, zydeco said:

Vietnam should send out an oil derrick in the place where the Chinese chased them off and start pumping under guard from an international flotilla.

Quite the opposite is true.  In March this year, the Vietnam government, under pressure from China, instructed Spanish energy giant Repsol to suspend all work on its upcoming drilling campaign in a disputed zone on Vanguard Bank.  This has cost Repsol the estimated $200M that they have already spent on preparation work, plus the cancelling of contracts valued at 100's of millions signed with international service companies, including from the US and UK, and will lose Vietnam billions of dollars in potential revenue from the Red Emperor gas field located in the zone.  I don't see any international diplomatic protest at this, let alone a global military flotilla coming to their aid, and neither the Vietnam government, nor their national oil company, PetroVietnam, are standing up for their right to control at least one of the zones they claim is theirs - they initially did, but backed down under Chinese threats.

 

Face it, East Asia is in China's neighbourhood, and they are rapidly achieving the economic power to go with their sheer weight of size and numbers to be able to call the shots in the region.  They are still behind militarily, but, unless the US wants to openly start a war to curtail that growth, there is little else it can do to prevent China becoming a military power too.  I don't have the exact date in front of me, but it will be sometime around 2025 that the cost of servicing its huge debt will match what the US spends on the military, and something will have to give.  I'm in no way saying that I like it, but China's rise to being a, and later on, the, global power is inexorable.  The short term danger is whether the West, and the US in particular, accept this and concentrate on becoming a balancing power in their own sphere of influence, or whether they choose to fight to try and maintain the status quo.  It could be argued that the US is in the same position as the UK was in the 1900's, with other countries catching, and passing, them economically and militarily, but still trying to hang onto their globally dominant position.  And we all know how that ended.  A 50 year period of bloody wars as the baton passed from the UK to the US.  Will it be the same again?  The stakes are higher this time, with the likely prize being the one to stand on the smouldering cinder heap shouting "king of the castle", while the fruits of victory turn to ashes in their mouths.

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, ballpoint said:

Quite the opposite is true.  In March this year, the Vietnam government, under pressure from China, instructed Spanish energy giant Repsol to suspend all work on its upcoming drilling campaign in a disputed zone on Vanguard Bank.  This has cost Repsol the estimated $200M that they have already spent on preparation work, plus the cancelling of contracts valued at 100's of millions signed with international service companies, including from the US and UK, and will lose Vietnam billions of dollars in potential revenue from the Red Emperor gas field located in the zone.  I don't see any international diplomatic protest at this, let alone a global military flotilla coming to their aid, and neither the Vietnam government, nor their national oil company, PetroVietnam, are standing up for their right to control at least one of the zones they claim is theirs - they initially did, but backed down under Chinese threats.

 

Face it, East Asia is in China's neighbourhood, and they are rapidly achieving the economic power to go with their sheer weight of size and numbers to be able to call the shots in the region.  They are still behind militarily, but, unless the US wants to openly start a war to curtail that growth, there is little else it can do to prevent China becoming a military power too.  I don't have the exact date in front of me, but it will be sometime around 2025 that the cost of servicing its huge debt will match what the US spends on the military, and something will have to give.  I'm in no way saying that I like it, but China's rise to being a, and later on, the, global power is inexorable.  The short term danger is whether the West, and the US in particular, accept this and concentrate on becoming a balancing power in their own sphere of influence, or whether they choose to fight to try and maintain the status quo.  It could be argued that the US is in the same position as the UK was in the 1900's, with other countries catching, and passing, them economically and militarily, but still trying to hang onto their globally dominant position.  And we all know how that ended.  A 50 year period of bloody wars as the baton passed from the UK to the US.  Will it be the same again?  The stakes are higher this time, with the likely prize being the one to stand on the smouldering cinder heap shouting "king of the castle", while the fruits of victory turn to ashes in their mouths.

The factoid about the debt service on the budget deficit comes from the Committie for a Responsible Federal Budget. Hardly an impartial source.

[Odysseus123]

7 hours ago, bristolboy said:

It's clear you read or watch too many third rate potboilers,

Indeed,Tom Clancy rides again.

 

For those who might like an historian's view of things...and are prepared to stay the course..

Prof.Ian Morris-'Why the West Rules-For Now.'