JAKARTA - The United States is a 'security risk maker' in the Taiwan Strait with frequent provocations there, China's military said on Wednesday, after US warships sailed through the sensitive waterway.
The US Navy's 7th Fleet said the Missile Destroyer USS Benfold (DDG-65) made a 'routine' transit of the Taiwan Strait through international waters "in accordance with international law".
The United States has made such voyages about once a month, angering China, which views them as a sign of support for Taiwan, a democratically-ruled island that Beijing views as Chinese territory.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command said in a statement its troops had followed the ship throughout and warned of that.
"The United States' frequent provocations and show-offs fully demonstrate that the United States is a destroyer of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and a security risk maker in the Taiwan Strait," he said in a statement.
"Theatrical forces remain on high alert at all times and resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity," the statement continued.
Meanwhile, the US Navy said the ship was "transiting through a corridor in the Strait that is outside the territorial sea of any coastal State".
"The ship's transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," the US side said.
Separately, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said the US ship was sailing north through the strait and the situation on the waterway was 'as usual'.
The USS Benfold (DDG-65) has been operating in the disputed South China Sea, where it has conducted two 'Freedom of Navigation Operations' in the past week.
Last week, the warship sailed around the disputed Paracel Islands, with Washington calling it an international shipping lane. It is known that China took control of the Paracel Islands from the then South Vietnamese government in 1974.
Monday last week marks the sixth anniversary of an international tribunal's decision to overturn China's claims to the South China Sea, a trade route for ships worth about USD 3 trillion each year.
VOIR éGALEMENT:
China never accepted that decision. Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea. Meanwhile, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei all have been competing and often overlapping claims.
The missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG-65) belongs to the Arleigh Burke class of destroyers. Coming into service in 1996, the ship is based in Yokosuka, Japan.
Besides being equipped with electronic warfare equipment, this ship is equipped with Tomahawk or VL-ASROC anti-submarine missiles, Harpoon missiles, Naval Guns, Phalanx CIWS to Mk32 triple torpedo tubes.
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