US warship crosses Taiwan Strait amid growing threats from China

US warship has crossed Taiwan Strait, US Navy said Thursday, after a The commander warned that China could invade the island before 2027.

The guided missile destroyer “USS John Finn” it entered the arm of the sea between mainland China and Taiwan on Wednesday, the United States Seventh Fleet reported.

This surgery, the third of its kind since the inauguration of the American president Joe biden, have like objective “to demonstrate the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific zone”, according to the press release.

The move came a day after the commander of US forces in the region, Admiral Philip Davidson, warn that feared an invasion of Taiwan by the Chinese army.

“I’m afraid they are speeding up their plans to supplant the United States … by 2050”, Davidson, head of the Indo-Pacific Military Command (Indopacom), told a US Senate committee.

“It is clear that Taiwan is part of their ambitions and I think the threat is evident in the next decade, in fact the next six years.”he added.

Growing threat

After regaining control of Hong Kong, Beijing has issued repeated warnings to Taipei with demonstrations of force and attempts to prevent navigation in the Taiwan Strait, which separates the two territories.

At the end of January, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense reported that thirteen Chinese fighter jets had passed the Taiwanese Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), the highest number in 2021. In October of last year, at least 19 Chinese military planes entered Taiwanese ADIZ while in September, Chinese J-16 fighters crossed the middle line of the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan has a population of 23 million.. The island It has been considered a sovereign territory with its own government and political system under the name of the Republic of China since the end of the civil war between nationalists and communists in 1949.

For its part the People’s Republic of China consider this territory as one of its provinces and threatens to use force if the island officially declares independence.

United States severed formal diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979 and has since recognized Beijing as China’s sole official representative, but it remains Taiwan’s most powerful ally and its main arms supplier.

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