China Says US Navy Destroyer Transit Undermines Taiwan Strait Stability

China Says US Navy Destroyer Transit Undermines Taiwan Strait Stability

China on Thursday accused the United States of exacerbating tensions between Beijing and Taipei by sailing the destroyer USS Barry through the strait of Taiwan

BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2020) China on Thursday accused the United States of exacerbating tensions between Beijing and Taipei by sailing the destroyer USS Barry through the strait of Taiwan.

The US Pacific Fleet said a day earlier that it made the transit through the 90-mile-wide waterway to demonstrate "commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific."

"Recently, the US has been giving false signals to the forces advocating the independence of Taiwan, seriously undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait region. We seriously urge the US side to stop actions that destabilize the situation in the Taiwan Strait region," a statement from China's eastern theater command of the People's Liberation Army said.

Beijing considers the self-ruled island of Taiwan a rightful part of China. Due to this, Taiwan has little international representation and no formal relations with the US. Washington, however, has increasingly sent top US officials to meet with Taiwanese leadership amid soaring tensions with China.

US official communications insist on applying the term Indo-Pacific to the region otherwise known as Asia-Pacific, purportedly to diminish China's dominion and counter its maritime territorial claims.