“Severe Warning” – US Sends Destroyers to Disputed Sea Area

“It is a serious warning about the provocative activities of the separatist pro-independence forces in Taiwan and their collusion with foreign forces,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, explaining the military maneuvers. According to the Chinese military, air strikes on land targets were also simulated. The maneuvers near Taiwan, which have been underway since Saturday, are in response to Taiwanese President Tsai’s stopover on his way back from a trip to Central America in the United States. She met Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy – the number three in the US by protocol.

Dozens of planes from Beijing entered the buffer zone
Taiwan’s defense ministry reported that 59 Chinese aircraft and 11 warships were spotted near the island’s democratic republic within four hours on Monday morning. 39 aircraft crossed the previously respected, unofficial centerline of the Taiwan Strait and also entered the Taiwan Air Patrol Zone (ADIZ), which serves as a kind of buffer zone for the People’s Republic.

China sees Taiwan as a ‘purely domestic matter’
The communist leadership in Beijing considers independently governed Taiwan part of the People’s Republic and threatens to conquer it. China is trying to isolate Taiwan internationally and resolutely rejects other countries’ official contacts with Taiwan. The “biggest threat to peace and stability” in the Taiwan Strait is pro-independence forces and foreign forces working with them, the State Department spokesman said Monday. He reiterated that Taiwan is a “purely internal affair of China”.

The conflict in Taiwan is an important topic between China and the United States. Washington has been committed to the defense capacity of the island since 1979, which has so far mainly resulted in arms deliveries. Observers fear the dispute could potentially lead to a military confrontation between the two world powers. The US and China also disagree over Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Meanwhile, the United States showed military strength in the South China Sea. The US guided-missile destroyer USS Milius completed a mission near Mischief Atoll in the Spratly Islands on Monday. As the 7th US Fleet announced, the US warship was thus advocating freedom of navigation in the sea area claimed by China and other countries. The “USS Milius” then left the area again.

The reef is inundated with water in its natural state and therefore does not allow for territorial claims under the Convention on the Law of the Sea, the statement said. China’s land reclamation and the facilities built have not changed that. “Illegal and far-reaching claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas, including freedom of navigation and overflight, free trade and unimpeded business.”

Artificial islands would support China’s claims
China claims almost all of the South China Sea and has built artificial islands to support its claims. This also applies to strategically important and resource-rich areas that countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines claim as their own. The United States and China’s neighbors accuse Beijing of increasing militarization of the region. The International Court of Arbitration in The Hague rejected China’s territorial claims in 2016. However, China ignores the verdict.