US warship in Taiwan Strait worries China

Representational image

Taipei: An American warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the US Navy and Taiwanese authorities said Thursday, triggering concern in Beijing. The transit came as China, which views Taiwan as a renegade province, unveiled a defence white paper Wednesday stressing its willingness to use force to thwart any move towards the self-ruled island's independence, and accusing the United States of undermining global stability.

The USS Antietam conducted a routine transit through the waterway separating the Chinese mainland and Taiwan on July 24-25. The transit "demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific", the US Navy's Seventh Fleet said in a statement. But Beijing's reaction was relatively restrained, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying saying China had "expressed its concerns to the American side". "The Taiwan issue is the most important and sensitive issue in Sino-American relations," Hua said.

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