U.S. WARSHIP Deployed – China Is Furious
(RightWing.org) – China has issued a new complaint about US warships sailing in international waters. The US Navy immediately hit back, saying it’s committed to freedom of navigation.
On April 26, the USS Sampson, an Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyer, sailed through the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China. The strait is international waters, but China regularly protests US ships transiting it. China insists Taiwan is its territory, even though it has never been part of the communist state.
This time the Eastern Theater Command of China’s People’s Liberation Army accused the US of “deliberately undermining the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait” with its “provocative action.”
Eastern Theater Command: #China condemns #USS Sampson destroyer transition through the #Taiwan Straits on Tuesday, & #PLA Eastern Theater Command organized forces to track &monitor the US warship throughout its entire course on high alert. pic.twitter.com/0fsyFe6JM9
— Ambassador Deng Xijun (@China2ASEAN) April 28, 2022
The Sampson is a 15-year-old, 9,500-ton missile destroyer. On her own, she’s no threat to China’s territory. However, she is a threat to any Chinese attack on Taiwan. The destroyer’s SM-6 Standard missiles can destroy ballistic missiles, which China would use to destroy the island democracy’s defenses ahead of an invasion; the ship could also decimate and break up Chinese air attacks.
The US Navy rejected China’s complaints, saying, “The United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows.” The last transit of the Strait by a US warship was in February when Sampson’s sister ship, the USS Ralph Johnson, followed the same route. China made the same complaints then, and the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet ignored them, as it always does. China’s communist regime doesn’t control international waters, and the US Navy regularly needs to remind them of that.
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