US Warship Sails Through Taiwan Strait Following China Drills

Facts

• The US Navy's 7th Fleet stated on Monday that the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Milius made a "routine" passage through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier, nearly a week after China ended its latest round of military exercises in the region.¹
• The warship allegedly sailed through international waters, where freedom of navigation applies under international law, demonstrating America's self-characterized commitment to a "free and open Indo-Pacific region."²
• While "freedom of navigation operations" are regularly carried out by Western countries to uphold the international status in regional waterways, the US Navy had not done so through this sea corridor since January.³
• The PRC reacted by declaring that it had tracked the warship through the Taiwan Strait, which it claims to be its territorial waters, adding that the US had "hyped up" the transit.⁴
• This comes after China conducted war games in the Strait in retaliation for Taiwan's Pres. Tsai Ing-wen meeting US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) earlier this month.⁵
• Taiwanese authorities reported on Monday that 18 Chinese aircraft and four vessels were detected around the island.⁶

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Al Jazeera, ³DW, ⁴France 24, ⁵Independent, and ⁶South China Morning Post.

Narratives

• Pro-China narrative, as provided by Global Times. The island of Taiwan has been an integral part of the Chinese territory for centuries. However, the Chinese people on both sides of the Straits are yet to be reunified following the 1949 split. Beijing has long sought to peacefully reunify the motherland under the agreed-upon One China policy, but secessionist Taiwanese officials backed by the US have recently begun to pursue provocative actions that are threatening the status quo. Given the current political climate, the PRC will take all necessary measures to achieve this goal.
• Anti-China narrative, as provided by Taipei Times. Taiwan is continuing to receive support from the West in a joint stand against the PRC's aggression toward the island nation. Just as China's behavior concerning Hong Kong and its management of COVID has destroyed previous assumptions of its peaceful intentions, Beijing's belligerence and Xi Jinping's reckless actions reveal its stance on Taiwan, which becomes more internationally unpopular by the day.

Predictions

Will China launch a full-scale invasion of Taiwan by the following years?

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