China ready to fight any provocation’ as US Navy ships sail Taiwan Strait

• China declares that it is “ready to fight any provocation”.
• US Navy confirms that two cruisers entered international waters in Taiwan Strait.
• Comes just weeks after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the region, angering China and Taiwan.

As two US Navy warships cruise through international waters in the Taiwan Strait, China declares that it is “ready to fight any provocation.”

It comes just weeks after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the region, making her the highest-ranking elected US official to go so in almost 25 years.

Her visit enraged China, which perceived it as an attempt by the US to meddle in its domestic affairs. Taiwan is regarded by Beijing as a renegade colony that must be annexed by force if necessary.

Since the defeated Republic of China government withdrew to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the communists, the narrow strait has been a source of military concern.

The US Navy confirmed the action, saying the cruisers Chancellorsville and Antietam had “transited via a corridor in the strait that is outside any coastal state’s territorial sea.”

Crossing the 100-mile-wide (160-kilometer-wide) Taiwan Strait, which separates the island nation from China, usually takes eight to twelve hours.

According to the navy, the mission illustrates America’s commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, and the US military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows.

In recent years, governments such as the United Kingdom and Canada have sent ships through the Taiwan Strait.

The Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command said it was monitoring US naval activities and was ready to “thwart any provocation,” adding that its troops were “on high alert.”

Taiwan’s defence ministry stated that the two US ships were travelling south and that its personnel were observing, but that “the situation remained normal.”

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