Beijing ‘tones down’ response after US warships sail through Taiwan Strait
- Foreign ministry spokesman says Beijing ‘expressed concern’ to Washington over the transit – a move that usually provokes a stronger reaction
- Military experts say the destroyers had turned on their automatic identification systems in an apparently ‘friendly’ gesture
Beijing on Monday “expressed concern” after two US warships passed through the Taiwan Strait, but stopped short of lodging a “stern protest” as it has previously done over similar transits.
Asked about the warships, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing had “expressed concern” to Washington.
Geng reiterated that the US should handle the Taiwan issue “prudently” to avoid a negative impact on its relations with Beijing. The spokesman also repeated that “the Taiwan issue is the most important and sensitive issue in Sino-US relations”.
Military experts said that in the latest transit, the two destroyers switched on their automatic identification systems – apparently a “friendly” gesture to allay Beijing’s concerns and show that they were carrying out a “freedom of navigation” operation.
Taiwan-based military analyst Chi Le-yi said Beijing had “toned down its criticism because the destroyers could be identified”.
“The US warships used to be less open, and they would not notify any countries about their movements,” Chi said.
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Another military expert, Zhou Chenming, said both Beijing and Washington wanted to soften their rhetoric because trade talks between the two countries were close to the final stage.
But Drew Thompson, a former US defence department official responsible for managing relations with Beijing, Taipei and Mongolia, said that Washington would not use its military to send political signals to China.
“The role of US military is not like the People’s Liberation Army to be used in politics,” said Thompson, a visiting senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.
He said the US Navy had made fewer transits through the Taiwan Strait in 2018 after a collision involving three American frigates two years ago.
“The frequency of strait transits had gone down last year, and now is returning to historical levels … now the ships are returning to normal operations,” Thompson said.
In Hong Kong, military commentator Song Zhongping said that Beijing would still regard such voyages as provocative moves aimed at challenging its one-China principle – Beijing’s position that the mainland and Taiwan belong to the same country.
“Everyone knows that the Taiwan Strait is very sensitive for Chinese people, and these kinds of transits will only embolden pro-independence forces on the island,” Song said.
Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said the US destroyers’ transit would be broadly seen as a move “deliberately designed by Washington to demonstrate its freedom of navigation to mainland China”.
He said that was especially the case since it took place soon after Beijing’s strong response to the French warship sailing through the strait.
“Beijing seems to be taking a harder stance on transits through the strait – and we’re not likely to see the US backing down. I expect the US to keep up, if not increase, these naval activities to demonstrate its security commitment to the region,” he said.
