A US destroyer and a Canadian frigate sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday in the latest joint operation to bolster the route’s status as an international waterway.
The United States has long used “freedom of navigation” passages through the Taiwan Strait to oppose Chinese claims, and Western allies have increasingly joined these operations.
The USS Higgins, along with the Royal Canadian Navy’s Halifax frigate HMCS Vancouver, were conducting “a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait… in accordance with international law,” the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet said.
“The ship was passing through a corridor in the Strait that is outside the territorial sea of any coastal state,” they continued, although Beijing’s official position is that the Strait is part of their territory.
It comes after President Joe Biden was asked in an interview whether US troops would defend Taiwan, answering ‘yes’ if it was ‘an unprecedented attack’.
A photo of the Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigate HMCS Vancouver sailing the Taiwan Strait in an apparent show of force against China
The US Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Higgins, pictured here, accompanied the Canadian frigate
President Joe Biden was asked in an interview whether US troops would defend Taiwan and answered ‘yes’, if it was ‘an unprecedented attack’, triggering a backlash from Beijing
State Department spokesman Mao Ning said: “The US comments…seriously violate the important commitment the US has made not to support Taiwan’s independence”
Beijing’s response drew backlash, and a spokesman said Biden’s comments “are seriously inconsistent with the important commitment the US has made not to support Taiwan’s independence.”
British, Canadian, French and Australian warships have sailed through the Taiwan Strait in recent years, sparking protests from Beijing.
They also frequently navigate the South China Sea, another vital cruising ground that Beijing maintains is under its domain, despite a 2016 Hague ruling rejecting its claims and rival from multiple neighbors.
The provocative passage of ships also comes as a military exercise in Fiji involving the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand is set to end this week.
The United States has pledged greater engagement in the South Pacific after China and the Solomon Islands signed a bilateral security treaty in May, raising fears of a Chinese naval base being established in the region.
The traditional allies took part in exercises called Operation Cartwheel amid mounting tensions between China and the west, especially after the Biden interview.
Biden’s comments mark the furthest the president has gone toward embroiling America in another global war amid mounting tensions in the Far East.
It comes after he announced a $1.1 billion weapons package for the island and pledged to continue bolstering its defenses as the prospect of invasion looms.
Formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan were severed by Washington in 1979, recognizing Beijing as the sole representative of China.
Taiwanese soldiers man an anti-aircraft gun on Aug. 18, weeks before the US sold the island for $1.1 billion worth of military equipment
A photo of the USS Higgins passing through a corridor in the Taiwan Strait, which the US Navy claims is international waters, despite Beijing saying otherwise
At the same time, however, the US maintained a decisive, albeit delicate, role in supporting Taiwan.
Appearing on Sunday night’s 60 Minutes – his first TV interview in more than seven months – Biden was asked, “Would US troops defend the island?”
He replied, “Yes, if indeed there was an unprecedented attack.”
Journalist Scott Pelley said, “So unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir. American troops, American men and women would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion?’
“Yes,” Biden said.
Despite the president’s black-and-white comments, a White House official said after the interview that the official U.S. policy toward the defense of Taiwan — the “strategic ambiguity” set forth in the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 — remained unchanged.
“The president has said this before, including in Tokyo earlier this year,” the official said. “He also made it clear that our policy in Taiwan has not changed. It will stay that way.’
The president also seemed to refer to the Taiwan Relations Act in the interview, saying that the policy that the US has had towards Taiwan for years remained in effect.
“We agree with what we signed a long time ago,” Biden said in the interview. And that there is one China policy, and that Taiwan makes its own judgment about their independence. We don’t move – we don’t encourage their independence. We are not – that – that is their decision.’
The Taiwan Relations Act requires the US to provide Taiwan with ammunition to defend itself should the need arise.