BEIJING, Sept 17 (Askume) – A U.S. Navy plane flew across the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday in what the United States called a commitment to free and open international airspace, prompting China to send fighter jets over that waterway.
Speaking about the P-8A Poseidon flight, the US Seventh Fleet said: “The United States conducts operations in the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law and safeguards the navigation rights and freedoms of all nations.”
China claims sovereignty over democratically governed Taiwan and calls Western military transit in the region a provocation. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command said it had sent aircraft to monitor and “warn off” the US aircraft.
China has never abandoned the use of force to control Taiwan and has increased military activities around Taiwan in the past five years, including war drills.
Last week, two German naval ships transited the Taiwan Strait for the first time in two decades, demonstrating Berlin’s determination to stand with its Western allies over Taiwan.
