The flags of Taiwan and the US are placed for a meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, March 27, 2018. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo
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WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (Reuters) – Two U.S. Navy warships are navigating international waters in the Taiwan Strait, three U.S. officials told Reuters, the first such operation since of increased tension with China over the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.
In recent years, US warships, and sometimes those of allied nations such as Britain and Canada, have routinely sailed through the strait, drawing Beijing’s ire.
China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory over the objections of the democratically elected government in Taipei, launched military exercises near the island after Pelosi visited in early August, and those exercises have continued.
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The trip angered Beijing, which saw it as an attempt by the United States to interfere in China’s internal affairs.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Saturday that the U.S. Navy cruisers Chancellorsville and Antietam were conducting the operation, which was still ongoing.
These operations typically take eight to 12 hours to complete and are closely monitored by the Chinese military.
The Taiwan Strait has been a frequent source of military tension since the defeated government of the Republic of China fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the Communists, who established the People’s Republic of China.
Pelosi was followed about a week later by a group of five other US lawmakers, and the Chinese military responded by conducting more exercises near Taiwan.
Senator Marsha Blackburn, the US member of the Senate Commerce and Armed Services committees, arrived in Taiwan on Thursday in the third visit by a US dignitary this month, defying pressure from Beijing to halt the trips.
The Biden administration has sought to prevent tensions between Washington and Beijing, inflamed by the visits, from spiraling into conflict, reiterating that such congressional trips are routine.
The United States does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but is required by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.
China has never ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control.
Taiwan’s government says the People’s Republic of China has never ruled the island and therefore has no right to claim it, and that only its 23 million people can decide its future.
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Report by Idrees Ali; Editing by Christopher Cushing
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Idrees Ali
Thomson Reuters
Pentagon-focused national security correspondent in Washington DC Reports on US military activity and operations around the world and their impact. He has reported from more than two dozen countries including Iraq, Afghanistan and much of the Middle East, Asia and Europe. From Karachi, Pakistan.