TAIPEI: A US Coast Guard ship sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, the US Navy’s 7th Fleet said on Thursday, transiting the sensitive waterway a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken completed a rare visit to Beijing.
The strait, which separates China from the democratically governed island of Taiwan, is a frequent source of tension as Beijing steps up its political and military pressure to try to force Taipei to accept Chinese sovereignty.
The US Navy’s 7th Fleet said the national security cutter USCGC Stratton conducted a “routine” Taiwan Strait transit on Tuesday “through waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law.”
“Stratton’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The United States military flies, sails and operates anywhere international law allows,” the 7th Fleet added in its statement.
The mission, which China has yet to comment on, happened the day after Blinken ended a visit to Beijing, in which the two countries agreed to stabilize their intense rivalry so it does not veer into conflict, but failed to produce any major breakthrough.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said the ship sailed in a northerly direction, and its forces monitored the situation which it described as “normal.”
US military vessels, and on occasion those of its allies, have routinely sailed through the strait in recent years, to the anger of China, which views such missions as provocation.
This month the US Navy released a video of an “unsafe interaction” in the strait, in which a Chinese warship crossed in front of a US destroyer operating with a Canadian warship.
Taiwan’s military reports almost daily Chinese incursions in the strait, mostly warplanes that cross the waterway’s median line, which once served as an unofficial barrier between the two.
On Wednesday, Taiwan said Chinese warships led by the aircraft carrier Shandong sailed through the strait.
US Navy: Coast Guard ship transited Taiwan Strait after Blinken’s China visit
https://arab.news/5vc2e
US Navy: Coast Guard ship transited Taiwan Strait after Blinken’s China visit
- National security cutter USCGC Stratton conducted a ‘routine’ Taiwan Strait transit on Tuesday
- On Wednesday, Taiwan said Chinese warships led by the aircraft carrier Shandong sailed through the strait
US-Israeli attack violates international law: South Africa
- Ramaphosa “calls on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to act in a manner consistent with international law,” a statement said
- Ramaphosa “reiterates his call for intensified diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions”
JOHANNESBURG: The US and Israeli strikes on Iran Saturday violated international law, South Africa’s president said, calling for restraint and dialogue.
The allies launched the attack citing “threats” from Iran, which retaliated with a barrage of missiles aimed at Gulf states that host US bases, and at Israel.
President Cyril Ramaphosa “calls on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to act in a manner consistent with international law, international humanitarian law and the principles of the United Nations Charter,” a statement said.
The UN Charter states that self-defense can only be invoked when a state has been subjected to an armed invasion, the statement from his office said.
It condemned “international law violations,” saying: “Anticipatory self-defense is not permitted under international law and self-defense cannot be based on assumption or anticipation.”
Ramaphosa “reiterates his call for intensified diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions and create space for continued meaningful negotiations,” the statement said.
US President Donald Trump said Washington’s goal was “eliminating imminent threats” from Iran, while Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation was to remove an “existential threat.”
