Chinese aircraft carrier and US destroyer sail in Taiwan Strait

confirmed Taiwan Ministry of Defense In a brief message sent to Agence France-Presse, traffic Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong across the Taiwan Strait Friday.

“We confirm that we are vigilant and monitoring all aircraft carriers and ships of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in the vicinity of Taiwan Strait“.

For its part, the US Department of Defense announced in an email to AFP that “one of our destroyers” crossed the Taiwan Strait.

The Taiwan Strait is a very sensitive area, and Beijing Taiwan Island Democracy is part of its territory, and it has expressed its desire to restore it one day, and by force if necessary.

The United States, Taiwan’s main ally, considers the strait an international maritime zone and sends warships to the region in defense of “freedom of navigation”.

Movements of warships in the 180-kilometer-wide Taiwan Strait are not rare.

Shandong previously sailed through the strait in December 2020, the day after a US warship passed by.

crossed Carrier The same Strait in December 2019, a few weeks before the elections in Taiwan.

Washington lent its support to Taipei under President Joe Biden, agreeing to at least two arms deals for the island to bolster its air and missile defense systems. Beijing considers this support “seriously harmful” to relations between the United States and China.

China has greatly enhanced its military power in recent years, and 969 Chinese warplanes have been hacked in Taiwan Air Defense District The year 2020, according to an AFP count, is more than double the 380 hacks recorded in 2016.