SpaceWar.com reports: “China has condemned the passage of US and British warships through the Taiwan Strait, shortly after announcing its new aircraft carrier had transited through the sensitive waterway.

‘On September 12, the US destroyer Higgins and the UK frigate Richmond transited the Taiwan Strait and engaged in disturbance and provocation,’ Senior Colonel Shi Yi, a spokesman for the Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement Friday.

The Chinese military ‘organised naval and air forces to track and monitor their transit throughout the process’, he said, adding that ‘the actions… undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.’

Beijing views Taiwan as part of its territory and claims jurisdiction over the body of water that separates the self-ruled island from the Chinese mainland.

The United States, Britain and other countries view the Taiwan Strait as international waters open to all vessels…”