(Taipei) Beijing announced Tuesday that it had deployed air and naval forces to monitor an American military plane flying over the sensitive Taiwan Strait.
Posted at 7:19 a.m.
Earlier in the morning, a US Navy Boeing P-8A Poseidon crossed into international airspace over the Taiwan Strait, the US Seventh Fleet said in a statement.
“The aircraft’s passage through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” she added.
China said it monitored the anti-submarine patrol plane, but condemned an “openly publicized” flight.
“The US remarks distort legal principles, confuse the public and mislead international perception,” said the senior colonel and spokesperson for the Chinese Air Force’s Eastern Theater of Operations.
Beijing “organized naval and air forces to monitor and protect the trajectory of the American plane and reacted effectively,” added this officer of the People’s Liberation Army.
Washington has strengthened its alliances in the region, irritating Beijing with the regular deployment of military ships and aircraft in the Taiwan Strait.
In mid-September, the Chinese army had already claimed to have followed this same model of plane over the strait, promising to “resolutely defend national sovereignty”.
The United States is Taiwan’s main security supporter, although it does not diplomatically recognize the island.
Washington and its allies regularly cross the 180-kilometer strait, by plane or boat, to strengthen the international status of this stretch of sea, infuriating Beijing, which claims jurisdiction over Taiwan and its surrounding waters.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Saturday urged the United States not to cross the “red line” in its support for Taiwan, two months before Donald Trump returns to the White House.
The warning was made during a one-on-one meeting with outgoing US President Joe Biden in Lima, on the sidelines of a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that the U.S. P-8A plane crossed the strait from south to north in the morning.
Taiwan’s military “closely monitored movements in the surrounding sea and airspace, and the situation remained normal,” the ministry said in a statement.
