Extra has shared a video highlighting an “unsafe interaction” within the Taiwan Strait, as a Chinese warship crossed dangerously close to a US destroyer, raising issues amid strained Sino-US relations. The incident occurred during a routine transit of the strait by the USS Chung-Hoon and Canada’s HSMC Montreal, with the Chinese vessel coming inside 137 metres of the US ship. The video exhibits the Chinese warship crossing the path of the Chung-Hoon, which doesn’t change course. A voice warns the Chinese ship towards “attempts to limit freedom of navigation”, although the complete message is unclear as a end result of wind noise.
China has indirectly addressed the US criticism of the encounter, and its international ministry did not respond to a request for comment. On Saturday evening, China’s navy accused the US and Canada of “deliberately frightening risk” with their joint crusing. Chinese navy commentator Song Zhongping stated that the “point clean interception” demonstrated the capabilities and “courage” of China’s navy. “The more intensified the provocation from the US, the stronger the countermeasures from China,” Song added.
This incident follows another recent encounter, where a Chinese fighter jet carried out an “unnecessarily aggressive” manoeuvre near a US military plane over the South China Sea in international airspace. Derek Grossman, a senior defence analyst on the RAND Corporation, believes Beijing has instructed its forces to respond extra assertively against perceived encroachments by US and allied forces. “By doing so, China is simply growing the possibilities for miscalculation – specifically ships or plane accidentally colliding – that would then spiral into armed conflict,” he warned.
In 2001, a US spy airplane made an emergency landing on China’s Hainan island following a collision with a Chinese fighter jet, resulting in the dying of the Chinese pilot. Taiwan’s defence ministry has labelled China’s actions with the US and Canadian ships as a “provocation” and emphasised the shared accountability of free and democratic nations to maintain peace and stability in the strait. “Any actions to extend tension and danger is not going to contribute to regional security,” the ministry said in a launch, urging China to respect the proper to freedom of navigation..