Why Did the Coast Guard Sail Right by Taiwan and China in 2019?
by David AxeKey point: Washington has been using its ships to ensure any nation can safely navigate the seas. It is also to show China that America cares about Taiwan.
The U.S. Coast Guard sent one of its biggest and most advanced vessels through the Taiwan Strait on March 25, 2019, drawing protest from China and hinting that the Coast Guard might take on a more forceful military role in the disputed waters of the Western Pacific.
The cutter USCGC Bertholf transited the 110-mile-wide strait in the company of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur, The Japan Times reported.
The two ships "conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit … in accordance with international law," U.S. Navy spokesman Lt. Joe Keiley told the newspaper. "The ships’ transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The U.S. will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows."
The transit is "likely to be interpreted by China as implicit support for self-ruled Taiwan," The Japan Times noted.
"China has paid close attention to and monitored from start to end the passage of the U.S. military vessels through the Taiwan Strait," Beijing's foreign ministry stated on March 25, 2019.