A US Navy patrol plane flew over the Taiwan Strait this Thursday, two days after the end of a two-day exercise south of the island, Reuters reported July 13.
The United States, according to the Pentagon, is carrying out “defense missions” in the Taiwan Strait – mostly with the help of ships, but aircraft are sometimes involved in these missions.
Such military demonstrations are outraged by the Chinese authorities, who remind that Beijing “has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction” over this waterway separating it from Taiwan.
This position is disputed by Taipei and Washington, who consider the strait to be “international waters”.
The US Navy’s Seventh Fleet reported that a P-8A Poseidon patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, which is also used for anti-submarine operations, flew through the strait in “international (air) space.”
“By acting in the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States supports the navigational rights and freedoms of all countries,” the statement said. — The passage of the aircraft through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region. The US military flies, swims, and operates wherever international law allows.”
The Taiwanese authorities indicated that the aircraft kept to the median line of the strait and departed in a southerly direction. The median line serves as the unofficial border between Taiwan and China, but since August last year, when Beijing conducted large-scale military maneuvers near the island, the Chinese air force has often crossed this line, although usually for a short time, Reuters notes.
The current U.S. Poseidon “defensive mission” flyby was preceded by a two-day Chinese military exercise involving fighters, bombers and warships that mostly flew and sailed south of the island through the Bashi Channel separating Taiwan and the Philippines. Although Beijing did not comment on the exercises, they took place less than two weeks before the annual Taiwan military maneuvers and against the backdrop of the NATO summit in Vilnius, at which the leaders of the North Atlantic Alliance said that with its “ambitions and coercive policies” China was challenging the interests of the military bloc.
2023-07-13 10:21:00
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