China Makes Representation To US Over Naval Ships Passing Via Taiwan Strait - Ministry

Beijing has made a representation to the United States as the latter sailed two naval ships through the Taiwan Strait, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Monday

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th March, 2019) Beijing has made a representation to the United States as the latter sailed two naval ships through the Taiwan Strait, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Monday.

Earlier, the US Navy announced that its two ships, the Curtis Wilbur destroyer and the Coast Guard Bertholf cutter, conducted "a routine Taiwan Strait transit" on March 24-25 to demonstrate the US commitment to a "free and open Indo-Pacific."

"From beginning to end, the Chinese side was closely following the passage of US naval ships through the Taiwan Strait, China has already made a representation to the United States in this regard," Geng said.

According to the diplomat, Beijing calls on the United States to "honor the 'One China' policy and three joint Chinese-US communiques [on the issue] and be prudent about the Taiwan issue in order to avoid deterioration of Beijing-Washington relations and damage to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

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Taiwan is one of the stumbling blocks in US-Chinese relations. Beijing views self-ruling Taiwan as part of its territory and has been critical of its arms deals with Taiwan. The United States does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation and officially sticks to the "One China" policy regarding Taiwan. Nevertheless, Washington has kept informal relations with Taiwan after severing diplomatic ties in 1979.

Most recently, on Friday, China lodged a representation with the United States over its possible deal with Taiwan to sell and ship over 60 F-16 fighter jets.