A week after conducting extensive Chinese military exercises off Taiwan, the US destroyer USS Milius sailed through the strait of the island, claimed by Beijing, on Sunday April 16, the US Navy announced the same day. This in order to "perform[r] a routine transit", "in waters where the freedom of navigation and overflight on the high seas applies in accordance with international law", she developed in a press release.
The United States Navy specifies that "the ship transited through a corridor in the strait located beyond any territorial sea of a coastal State", before adding that "the United States Army flies, sails and operates wherever international law permits". The situation at sea and in the air was "normal" around the island during the passage of the USS Milius, for its part assured the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense on Monday.
Beijing reacted on Monday by claiming to have monitored the passage of the ship, and accused Washington of "hype" around the presence of its destroyer in the strait. Chinese forces in the area "continuously maintain a high level of alert and resolutely uphold national sovereignty and security, as well as regional peace and stability", said Shi Yi, a military spokesperson. .
"Illegal Trespass"
China has for several years castigated the rapprochement between the Taiwanese authorities and the United States, the latter providing, despite the absence of official relations, the island with substantial military support to support its independence. China, for its part, considers Taiwan as one of its provinces and aims to reunite the island with the rest of its territory, by force if necessary.
Last week, the USS Milius had already been deployed in the South China Sea last Monday, near the Spratly Islands, also claimed by Beijing, which then denounced an "illegal intrusion".
The US warship passed close to Taiwan also a week after conducting extensive Chinese military exercises around the island. For three days, Chinese warships and warplanes had simulated a "lockdown" of Taiwan, in retaliation for a meeting between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy on the ground. American.
The exercises officially ended on April 10, but since then Chinese military ships and planes have continued to circulate around Taiwan in operations that are due to last until April 20. Taiwan's Ministry of Defense said on Monday it detected four Chinese ships and 18 aircraft, four of which entered Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). Taiwan's ADIZ is not identical to the island's airspace, and includes a much larger area that overlaps with part of China's ADIZ, and even includes a portion of the mainland.
Joint exercises between the United States and the Philippines
Western military ships regularly cross the Taiwan Strait, each time provoking Beijing's outrage. In January, the American destroyer USS Chung-hoon notably crossed this strait, followed in February by two American and Canadian frigates. In August 2022, Beijing had for its part carried out its largest military maneuvers in decades on the outskirts of Taiwan, in response to a visit to Taipei by the speaker of the American House of Representatives at the time, Nancy Pelosi.
The United States and the Philippines also began their largest annual joint military exercises in the Southeast Asian country on Tuesday (April 11th), as longtime allies seek to counter the growing influence of China in the region.
These joint exercises, called "Balikatan" ("side by side" in Filipino), take place every year, mobilize 12,200 American soldiers, 5,400 Filipino soldiers and a little more than one hundred Australian soldiers, twice as many men as in 2022. They will include live ammunition for the first time and will last two weeks.
One of the exercises calls for the landing of military helicopters on the island of Calayan, located nearly 300 kilometers south of Taiwan.
