Spanish
Beijing.- The Chinese military deployed naval and air assets to monitor the passage of a U.S. destroyer and an oceanographic vessel through the Taiwan Strait, amid the escalation of tensions between Taipei and Beijing.
The guided-missile destroyer USS VJohn Finn and the oceanographic research vessel USNS (United States Naval USNS Mary Sears sailed through these waters from January 16 to 17, said Senior Colonel Xu Chenghua, spokesperson for the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese Army, in a statement.
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"The PLA (People's Liberation Army) Eastern Theater Command deployed naval and air assets to monitor and track the movements of US ships, ensuring an effective response and management," the spokesperson asserted via the social network Weibo - similar to X, blocked in China-. The military spokesman stressed that Chinese forces maintain a "high level of alert" to "resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and security, as well as regional peace and stability." For its part, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) reported that between January 16 and 17, it detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the vicinity of the island, of which 25 - including fighter jets, support aircraft, helicopters and drones - flew over the Strait region. U.S. warships and their allies often traverse the Taiwan Strait approximately once a month despite repeated protests from China, which considers both these waters and the island of Taiwan an "inalienable part" of its territory.
