June 4, 2023 – 10:00 PM
The US Department of Defense on Sunday condemned the “increasingly dangerous” actions of the Chinese military in Asia, following two incidents between the two countries’ forces in recent days, MTI wrote.
“We remain concerned about the PLA’s increasingly dangerous and coercive activities in the region, including in recent days,” said Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder, who is attending a security conference in Singapore with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
In the past 10 days, two incidents involving the US and Chinese armed forces occurred in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.
The US Navy on Saturday accused a Chinese ship of sailing “perilously close” to the destroyer Chung Hun as it passed through the Taiwan Strait on board a Canadian ship. The incident was also recorded, with the Americans alleging that the Chinese approached them within 150 yards (137 metres) and in doing so violated naval “rules of passage” for safe passage through international waters.
China did not mention the incident, but accused the United States and Canada of “deliberately causing unrest in the Taiwan Strait”.
The Republic of China was proclaimed in Taiwan in 1949, but the People’s Republic of China still regards the island country as a sovereign territory and province, and incidents between the two countries have been going on for years. The United States is also present with its forces in the Taiwan Strait, and President Joe Biden has repeatedly indicated that they will defend Taiwan independence.
