JAKARTA - The United States has reiterated its support for Taiwan, underlining the strait separating the island from mainland China is international waters and rejecting Beijing's claim to sovereignty there.
The Taiwan Strait has been a frequent source of military tension, since the Government of the Republic of China fled to Taiwan in 1949, after losing a civil war with the communists, who founded the People's Republic of China.
In recent years, US warships, and occasionally ships from allied nations such as Britain or Canada, have sailed through the strait, angering Beijing.
On Monday, China's Foreign Ministry said the country "has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait" and called it a "false claim when certain countries refer to the Taiwan Strait as 'international waters'."
In response, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in an email to Reuters: "The Taiwan Strait is an international waterway, meaning that the Taiwan Strait is an area where freedoms of the high seas, including freedoms of navigation and overflight, are guaranteed under international law. ," as quoted June 15.
The world has "an enduring interest in peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and we view this as a centerpiece of security and prosperity for the wider Indo-Pacific region," Price added.
He repeated US concerns about China's "aggressive rhetoric and coercive activity regarding Taiwan", saying the United States "will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law permits, including transit through the Taiwan Strait."
Earlier on Tuesday, Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou called China's position a "mistake."
On Wednesday, Taiwan's Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang said the strait "does not mean China's inland sea".
"China's ambition to devour Taiwan has never stopped or been hidden. The Taiwan Strait is a maritime area for free international navigation," he told reporters.
Separately, China's Taiwan Affairs Office said the government in Taipei was "cooperating with external powers to bring up this issue".
This "harms the interests of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and betrays the interests of the Chinese nation, and it is disgraceful," said a spokesman for Ma Xiaoguang's Beijing office.
It is known that China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, viewing the island as an inseparable part of Chinese territory.
Meanwhile, Taiwan says China has no right to speak out or claim sovereignty, saying only the Taiwanese people can decide their own future and that the People's Republic of China has never controlled any part of the island.
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