Chinese fighter jets intercepted an Australian helicopter by firing flares near the aircraft sending tensions soaring as a disastrous collision was narrowly avoided.
Beijing declared the vessel’s presence in the region a “provocation” that disrupts stability.
“The US ship’s passage sent a wrong message,” said Senior Colonel Zhang Chunhui from the People’s Liberation Army. “Such [actions] serve not only to disrupt the regional situation but also endanger stability in the Taiwan Strait, which we resolutely oppose.”
The US Seventh Fleet said in a statement that the frigate was part of the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group and was acting in the fleet’s area of operations.
“The ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the statement said.
| UPDATED: 07:16, Thu, Mar 11, 2021
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Beijing has claimed a large part of the South China Sea as its own which has triggered territorial disputes. The US heavily opposes China’s maritime sovereignty claims and on several occasions has sent its own warships to the disputed waters to promote “freedom of the seas”.
China has claimed a large part of the South China Sea as its own which has triggered territorial disputes.
Taiwan reportedly told the Times that the international community should “pay close heed to this growing aggressiveness of China” and welcomed the HMS Queen Elizabeth’s deployment in the region.
The independent island reported large incursions by Chinese warplanes into its air defence zone earlier this year.
Boris Johnson last year confirmed that the HMS Queen Elizabeth will be at the centre of a strike group deployment to the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and east Asia.
The Royal Navy’s HMS Queen Elizabeth (Image: getty)