Taiwan Sees Most U.S. Navy Sail-Bys Since Trump Took Office

(Bloomberg) -- An American warship’s sail past Taiwan was the sixth such voyage this year -- the most since President Donald Trump took office -- as the U.S. ramps up military support for the democratically run island.

The guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam completed a transit through the Taiwan Strait on Thursday, Seventh Fleet spokesman Clay Doss said, adding that it “demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. China, which views such passages as provocative because they reaffirm American support for Taipei, urged Washington to “avoid undermining China-U.S. relations and the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”

The transit highlights one of the deepest disputes between the U.S. and China just days before Trump’s trade envoys are due in Shanghai to discuss a resolution to their unprecedented trade war. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are set to travel to China on Monday for the first high-level, face-to-face talks between the two sides since discussions faltered in May.

U.S. warships have conducted nine such passages through the 180-kilometer (110 mile) wide waterway since last July, after going more than 12 months without one. Several of those operations have occurred just ahead of trade talks between the two sides.

“We have expressed our concern to the U.S. side,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a briefing Thursday in Beijing. “The Taiwan issue concerns the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China. It is the most important and sensitive issue amid China-U.S. relations.”

The naval passage was particularly pointed, coming after the Chinese military issued a white paper vowing to oppose any effort to formalize Taiwan’s independence and accusing the U.S. of undermining global security. The People’s Liberation Army has in recent years begun so-called “encirclement patrols” around the island amid a dispute with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who has refused to accept that both sides belong to “one China.”

Read more: China Says U.S. Undermining Global Stability in Defense Report

While China and Taiwan have broad economic ties, they’ve been ruled separately since 1949 and the Communist Party reserves the right to retake the island by force, if necessary. The U.S.’s military support for Taiwan has re-emerged as a tension point between the two sides, with Foreign Minster Wang Yi warning that Washington was “playing with fire” after approving a $2 billion arms sale this month.

The pace of Taiwan transits under Trump is not unusual by historical standards, with the U.S. conducting 12 such patrols during President Barack Obama’s last year in office. The navies for Australia, Canada and France -- all close U.S. allies -- have also conducted similar transits through the Taiwan Strait over the past 12 months.

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