Taipei: A video went viral on social media which shows a near-collision between Chinese and US Navy Warships as the US was participating in a joint exercise with the Canadian Navy in the Taiwan Strait.
The video was released by a Canadian news agency Global News crew aboard the frigate HMCS Montreal. It was also criticised by Captain Paul Mountford, the commander of the vessel, describing the Chinese ship as “not professional.”
Just hours after the incident, China’s Defence Minister Li Shangfu accused the US and its allies of attempting to destabilise the Indo-Pacific region.
During his speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Li said that the US was “provoking bloc confrontation for self-interest” and claimed that Washington and its allies were imposing their own rules to assert dominance over the region.
The Chinese minister also warned that any severe confrontation between the US and China would result in “an unbearable disaster for the world.”
Earlier, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in the same summit cautioned and described a war over Taiwan as “devastating”.
Austin emphasised the potential and profound impact of the war on the global economy in unimaginable ways.
Chinese Li was also questioned about the incident to which he condemned the US naval presence in the strait, accusing it of creating chaos in the region.
He remarked that the “US warships were not there for innocent passage but for provocation,” adding that “if the US and other foreign powers wished to avoid confrontation, they should refrain from sending their military assets near China”.
In response to the incident, a spokesperson for the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command released a statement, asserting that Chinese forces had handled the situation in compliance with laws and regulations.
The spokesperson accused relevant countries of deliberately stirring up trouble and risks in the Taiwan Strait, maliciously undermining regional peace and stability, and sending erroneous signals to “Taiwan independence” forces.
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