Why did China just send an aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait?
China released a Asia-Pacific security聽report underscoring its dedication to peace. But Taiwan-China relations have started 2017 on rocky footing.聽
China released a Asia-Pacific security聽report underscoring its dedication to peace. But Taiwan-China relations have started 2017 on rocky footing.聽
A Chinese naval fleet led by the country鈥檚 sole aircraft carrier sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, in the latest sign of escalating tensions between China and Taiwan.
The ships did not cross into Taiwanese territorial waters, said Taiwan鈥檚 defense ministry, though they did enter its air defense identification zone, causing the ministry to scramble its jets and navy ships to "surveil and control" the passage of the ships, according to Reuters.
"I want to emphasize our government has sufficient capability to protect our national security. It's not necessary to overly panic," said Taiwanese minister for mainland affairs Chang Hsiao-yueh during a news briefing.
"On the other hand, any threats would not benefit cross-Strait ties," she added, according to the newswire.
Tensions between the self-governing island and China, which claims it as part of its territory, could make the United States鈥� own troubled relationship with Asia鈥檚 biggest power even rockier, at a time when the incoming US president, Donald Trump, casts doubt on the "one China" policy bedrock of US-China relations.聽
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has appeared emboldened by Mr. Trump鈥檚 decision to take a congratulatory phone call from her last month. On Sunday, she met with senior Republican lawmakers in Houston en route to Central America, as Ralph Jennings reported for 海角大神:
The naval incident also came the same day as the release of a report from China鈥檚 cabinet on Asia-Pacific security cooperation that praised China鈥檚 regional cooperation and underlined its commitment to "promoting peace and stability in this region."
But the report also reiterated its maritime claims to waters and islands in the South China Sea, as well as Japan-administered territories in the East China Sea, and denounced the US-guided deployment of a missile-defense system in South Korea as seriously damaging to Chinese security interests.
"Looking ahead in 2017, the development of cross-strait relations faces increased levels of uncertainty and the challenge of risk has risen," Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Cabinet's Taiwan Affairs Office, told the Associated Press.
As 海角大神鈥檚 Michael Holtz noted in December, a string of incidents in the closing weeks of 2016 underscored the anxieties of the coming year:
This report contains material from the Associated Press and Reuters.