25 January 2019•Update: 25 January 2019
By Fuat Kabakci
BEIJING
China on Friday called on Washington to adhere to the “One-China” policy after the U.S. sent two warships through the Taiwan Strait on Thursday.
Speaking at a daily news briefing, Hua Chunying, spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said the U.S. should “carefully” address the issue of Taiwan in order to avoid damaging bilateral relations and the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.
Washington moved its destroyer USS McCampbell as well as the USNS Walter S. Diehl through the Taiwan Strait on Thursday, U.S. Pacific Fleet Spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Tim Gorman told CNN.
“[It is] a routine Taiwan Strait Transit.” Gorman said.
In 1979, the U.S. recognized the People’s Republic of China as the “legitimate authority representing China” by adopting the “One-China” policy.
However, the U.S. maintains relations with Taiwan unofficially. It sells weapons worth of billions of dollar each year to Taiwan.
Chinese nationalist leaders fled to Taiwan in 1949 to establish what they called “nationalist China” when Mao Zedong came to power.
China, which does not accept Taiwan's independence, argues that this island is its breakaway province since then.
* Riyaz ul Khaliq in Ankara contributed to this story.
