Push Admin

US warship transits Taiwan Strait after admiral's China invasion warning

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/overseas/03/11/u-s-navy-arleigh-burke-class.jpg"/><figcaption>The U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn (DDG-113) arrives at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii (USA), on 10 July 2017, in preparation for its commissioning ceremony. <em>US Navy</em></figcaption></figure></div><p><br/>TAIPEI - A US warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the American navy said Thursday, a day after a top US commander warned of the threat to Taiwan of a Chinese invasion within the next six years.</p><p>The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS John Finn conducted a routine transit yesterday through the waterway separating the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, the US Seventh Fleet said. </p><p>The third such voyage since President Joe Biden took office &quot;demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,&quot; it said in a statement.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/03/10/21/top-us-commander-fears-chinese-invasion-of-taiwan-by-2027">Top US commander fears Chinese invasion of Taiwan by 2027</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/02/21/21/taiwan-scrambles-air-force-again-after-chinese-exercises-in-south-china-sea">Taiwan scrambles air force again after Chinese exercises in South China Sea</a></li></ul><p>US warships periodically conduct navigation exercises in the strait, often triggering angry responses from Beijing, which claims Taiwan and surrounding waters as its own territory. </p><p>The US and many other countries view the route as international waters open to all.</p><p>The latest transit came the same day Beijing accused Admiral Philip Davidson, the top US military officer in Asia-Pacific, of attempting to &quot;hype up&quot; China&#x27;s military threat.</p><p>At a Senate committee hearing a day earlier, Davidson warned the US was losing its military edge to China in the Pacific and gave a stark assessment that he believed an invasion of Taiwan by Beijing could be imminent. </p><p>&quot;I worry that they&#x27;re (China) accelerating their ambitions to supplant the United States and our leadership role in the rules-based international order... by 2050,&quot; Davidson said. </p><p>&quot;Taiwan is clearly one of their ambitions before that. And I think the threat is manifest during this decade, in fact, in the next six years,&quot; he added, </p><p>Taiwan lives under constant threat of invasion by authoritarian China, which views the island as part of its territory awaiting to be reunified, by force if necessary. </p><p>President Xi Jinping has become the most bellicose leader since Mao, describing the seizure of Taiwan as &quot;inevitable&quot;. </p><p>Beijing has stepped up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016, who views the island as &quot;already independent&quot; and not part of its &quot;one China&quot;. </p><p>Last year, Chinese military jets made a record 380 incursions into Taiwan&#x27;s defense zone, with some analysts warning that tensions between the two sides were at their highest since the mid-1990s.</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1637614" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>A US warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the American navy said Thursday, a day after a top US commander warned of the threat to Taiwan of a Chinese invasion within the next six years.<br /> </p>

A US warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the American navy said Thursday, a day after a top US commander warned of the threat to Taiwan of a Chinese invasion within the next six years.