Washington on Tuesday supported Taiwan’s claim to international waters, a further denial of Beijing’s claim to control the strategically important Strait of Malacca, which separates the island from the mainland of China.
There have been several incidents of military tension between China and Taiwan since 1949, when the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan after losing a civil war to the communists, who founded the People’s Republic of China.
Beijing has expressed its displeasure with the presence of U.S. and ally warships in the strait in recent years.
Earlier this week, China’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement stating that the country has “sovereignty, sovereign powers, and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait” and that “some nations designate the Taiwan Strait ‘international seas.”
State Department spokesman Ned Price said in an email to Reuters on Tuesday: “The Taiwan Strait is an international waterway, which means that the Taiwan Strait is an area where high-water freedoms, such as freedom of navigation and overflight, are protected under international law.”
Keeping the Taiwan Strait peaceful is “critical to the security and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region,” according to Price.
“We will continue to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law permits, including transiting across the Taiwan Strait,” he said, reiterating US worries over China’s “aggressive language and coercive behaviour against Taiwan.”
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Joanne Ou referred to China’s stance as “fallacious” earlier in the day.
Taiwanese Premier Su Tseng-chang said on Wednesday that the Taiwan Strait was “by no means” part of China’s interior waterways.
To reporters, he said: “China’s aim to gobble up Taiwan has never halted or been veiled; the Taiwan Strait is a marine region for international navigation.”
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said that Taipei’s administration was “cooperating with foreign forces” to “hype up the situation”.
When the interests of Chinese citizens on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are jeopardised, it is shameful, according to office spokeswoman Ma Xiaoguang, who made the statement in Beijing.
As a result, China has never abandoned the use of force to regain control of Taiwan and regards the island as an integral part of its own country.
Only Taiwan’s people have the right to select their own destiny, and the People’s Republic of China has never occupied any portion of the island, Taiwan claims in its statement.
Works at The Truth International Magazine. My area of interest includes international relations, peace & conflict studies, qualitative & quantitative research in social sciences, and world politics. Reach@ [email protected]
