According to an article in Radio France Internationale, if the U.S. sends a warship through the Taiwan Strait, it would be seen as blatant support for Taiwan, which is constantly threatened by China’s warships and warplanes. The article stated, “It would be a blow to Beijing. This means that the Trump administration is taking more actions to limit Beijing’s maritime ambitions.” On Tuesday, the spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs asserted, “The Taiwan issue is the most important and most sensitive core issue in Sino-U.S. relations. The U.S. should earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the provisions of the three Sino-U.S. joint communiques and carefully handle the Taiwan issue so as not to damage Sino-U.S. relations and the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.” Huanqiu published an opinion article on Tuesday which was titled, “It Is Better for the U.S. Warship to Stay Away from the Taiwan Strait.” The article claimed, “The Chinese people will definitely not be happy about it. … The United States military had best not get too close to the Taiwan Strait, especially if it doesn’t want to stir up the water there.” The paper threatened that otherwise, “It would put the U.S. into the position of risking confrontation with China’s military.”
Source: Radio France Internationale, June 5, 2018
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