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The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the “unsafe” maneuver, which occurred Saturday, introduced the Chinese language vessel inside 150 yards of the U.S. and Canadian ships throughout a routine freedom-of-navigation train. Chinese language Overseas Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin mentioned on Monday that Beijing “firmly opposed related nations creating hassle” within the Taiwan Strait and that the US had provoked hassle first.
China claims Taiwan, a self-governing democracy of 23 million individuals, as its personal territory and maintains the Taiwan Strait is a part of its financial zone. The US mentioned the strait is a part of worldwide waters, saying its train with HMCS Montreal “demonstrates the mixed U.S.-Canadian dedication to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
The close to miss within the Taiwan Strait got here two weeks after what U.S. officers referred to as an “unnecessarily aggressive” encounter between Chinese language and American navy plane over the South China Sea. A Chinese language fighter jet flew simply a number of dozen toes in entrance of an Air Power RC-135 surveillance aircraft, forcing the U.S. aircraft into turbulence.
The encounters dealt a blow to latest efforts in easing the diplomatic standoff between the US and China after the U.S. navy shot down a Chinese language surveillance balloon in February. Beijing has hinted at a willingness to move past the incident, and President Biden spoke of a possible “thaw” in U.S.-China relations final month.
Over the weekend, U.S. and Chinese language protection officers publicly accused each other of stoking tensions within the Taiwan Strait at separate occasions after Beijing rejected a U.S. request to satisfy privately.
On Saturday, Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin mentioned Washington wouldn’t settle for “coercion and bullying” of allies and companions by China and cautioned the Chinese language navy in opposition to “unprofessional” intercepts by warplanes above the South China Sea.
Chinese language Protection Minister Li Shangfu on Sunday accused “some nations” of “wantonly meddling in different nations’ inside affairs” and increase “unique navy alliances” within the Asia-Pacific.
On Sunday, earlier than the video was launched, Li instructed that the US and its allies had been intent on frightening China. “Why does all of the friction between navy plane and warships that you simply talked about occur close to China’s territorial airspace and waters?” he requested. “What are you doing hanging round different individuals’s homes?”
“In our language, we’d say: Thoughts your personal individuals, thoughts your personal ships and thoughts your personal plane.”
Vic Chiang contributed to this report.
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