China tracks US warship's transit through Taiwan Strait
US military command says transit through waters ‘where freedoms of navigation, overflight apply in accordance with international law’
FILE PHOTO
ISTANBUL
China said Thursday that it had tracked a US warship that transited the Taiwan Strait a day earlier, according to state media reports.
Senior Col. Shi Yi, spokesman for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command, said the US guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence “made a transit in the Taiwan Straits on Wednesday, which the US side publicly hyped.”
“The PLA Eastern Theater Command organized naval and air forces to track and monitor the US vessel’s transit throughout its entire course, and effectively dealt with it in accordance with the law,” he added.
The US Indo-Pacific Command, which oversees military operations in the region, described the transit as “routine” and said it occurred in waters “where freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law.”
Shi accused the US of “distorting right and wrong, misrepresenting legal principles, and misleading international perceptions.”
“We sternly warn the US to stop distorting and sensationalizing the issue and to work together to jointly safeguard peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits,” he added.
