i24NEWS – AFP
March 11, 2021, 02:34 AM
2 min read
Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Markus Castaneda/U.S. Navy via APGuided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain conducts routine underway operations at the Taiwan Strait, Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020.
Asia-Pacific Admiral Philip Davidson warns China likely to try invading Taiwan within coming 6 years
A US warship, Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn, made its way through the Taiwan Strait, the US military said on Thursday.
In a statement, the US Seventh Fleet said the maneuver, the third since US President Joe Biden was inaugurated, “demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Such navigation exercises are seen by the US as important moves asserting freedom of navigation in an area that Washington and multiple other nations see as international waters — and China claims those as its own, also claiming Taiwan as a province.
The latest maneuver comes after Wednesday’s Senate panel hearing where Asia-Pacific Admiral Philip Davidson warned the lawmakers that China was catching up with the US in terms of regional military capabilities.
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He said that, under his assessment, Beijing can be expected to try to invade Taiwan, which claims independence from mainland China, within the next six years.
“I worry that they’re accelerating their ambitions to supplant the United States and our leadership role in the rules-based international order… by 2050,” Davidson said.
On Thursday, China angrily lashed out at Davidson’s remarks, accusing him of overstating the situation.
Beijing has been stepping up the pressure on Taiwan in recent months across multiple spheres, including the military, with a record 380 aerial incursions into Taiwan’s defense zone made last year.
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