BEIJING (Dispatches) -- China on Tuesday accused the United States of “creating security risks” and “undermining regional stability” following the transit of an American warship in the Taiwan Strait.
A Chinese military spokesman in a statement said Beijing will take all necessary steps to counter threats and provocations, and safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Earlier in the day, the U.S. Seventh Fleet with headquarters in Japan said the passage of the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Milius through the Taiwan Strait was a routine transit.
The latest transit came days after U.S. President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping traded barbs over Taiwan, among other issues, during a rare virtual summit.
During the high-octane meeting, Xi cautioned Biden that encouraging Taiwanese independence would amount to “playing with fire,” according to reports.
U.S. warships regularly conduct military exercises in the strait, prompting China to accuse Washington of stoking regional tensions and destabilizing the waters of South China Sea.
Tensions between China and the U.S. over the latter’s meddling in Chinese Taipei have escalated recently.
Chinese media said Tuesday China has slapped fine on the mainland subsidiaries of a major Taiwanese industrial group over regulatory and legal violations, including environmental protection rules.
China’s official Xinhua news agency announced that Taiwan’s Far Eastern Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Chinese Taipei, was fined more that $13 million.
The action against the group comes amid Beijing’s warning that it will crack down on the pro-independence camp in Taiwan while the self-ruled island grows closer to the U.S. and European Union.
The Taipei-based conglomerate is a major donor to the island’s election campaigns, according to media reports.
The Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokeswomen, Zhu Fenglian, said that Beijing “would never allow people who support Taiwan independence and damage cross-strait relations to make money on the mainland.”
Zhu said that companies from the island have been told they need to draw a line between themselves and Taiwanese pro-independence factions.
The situation has become particularly tense since Tsai Ing-Wen took over the helm in Taiwan in 2016. She has maintained that Taiwan is independent and not part of China.