Officials with the U.S. Navy have stated as of this past Monday that they will continue their plans to sail ships through the Taiwan Strait over the next few days regardless of the fact that the Chinese Communist Party has been carrying out missile exercises around the island in the wake of the recent visit from U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Reports from the U.S. Naval Institute state that the military will carry out “freedom of navigation operations” throughout the Indo-Pacific waters. Such activities go along with international law, allowing ships to pass through foreign states safely.
“We will continue to stand by our allies and partners,” explained Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, as part of a press conference held on Monday. “So even as China tries to kind of chip away at the status quo, our policy is to maintain the status quo of a free and open Indo-Pacific, which frankly is what I think most of the countries in the region would prefer.”
“Our policy hasn’t changed,” Kahl stated. “We have a One China policy,” adding that the U.S. maintains its commitment under the Taiwan Relations Act to give Taiwan the capabilities to defend itself, which includes the U.S. having the power “to preclude the use of violence to force a change in the status quo across the Strait.”
The communist officials for China see the self-governed democratic island as its territory and have claimed they will take it back by any means necessary, which includes by use of force.
Sitting just 80 miles off the coast of mainland China and home to 23 million residents, Taiwan has dealt with a long series of drills in the wake of Pelosi visiting the island and sparking increased tensions between Washington and Beijing. China stood firmly against the visit from the U.S. Speaker of the House and has attempted to try and show off its military power by running drills, sending a few warships next to the country.
Officials for Taiwan have outright condemned the “irrational action that has jeopardized regional peace.”
However, Kahl has professed that Pelosi’s choice to go to the island has not changed “one iota” of the policy from the U.S. government regarding Taiwan or China.
“Legislatures from around the world go to Taiwan,” expressed Kahl. “Our Congress is an independent body of our government.”
“Clearly the PRC is trying to coerce Taiwan,” he stated. “Clearly, they’re trying to coerce the international community, and all I’ll say is we’re not going to take the bait and it’s not going to work.”
“So it’s a manufactured crisis. That doesn’t mean we have to play into that,” Kahl stated.
As of writing, the Navy has stationed the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group and the USS Tripoli assault ship in the Philippine Sea, as reported by the USNI News’ Fleet Tracker.