“Relevant countries are deliberately stirring up trouble and risks in the Taiwan Strait, maliciously undermining regional peace and stability and sending wrong signals to the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces,” PLA Eastern Theatre Command Senior Colonel Shi Yi was quoted as saying.
As the two warships sailed across the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, the theatre command’s forces surveilled and sent warnings in a “lawful manner”, Shi said.
Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be reunited with the mainland and has rejected the US claim that the Taiwan Strait should be considered international waters.
But the US Indo-Pacific Command accused the manoeuvre of being “unsafe” and said the action “violated the maritime ‘Rules of the Road’ of safe passage in international waters, according to a statement.
In an interview with Global News, Paul Mountford, the HMCS Montreal’s commander who observed the incident, said the sailing of the two warships so close together was “very scary” and could easily cause a collision.
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