US Poseidon Reconnaissance Plane Transits Taiwan Strait Amid Dispute Over Waterway’s Status

A US maritime patrol aircraft flew through the Taiwan Strait on Friday in an aerial parallel to the “freedom of navigation acts” (FONOPS) performed by US warships to demonstrate their contempt for other nations’ alleged “excessive” sea claims.

According to the US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), a US Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft flew the length of the Taiwan Strait on Friday, which it said “demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

“The United States will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows including within the Taiwan Strait,” the statement continued. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.”

When this story went to publication, the Chinese government had not officially reacted to the incident.

The waterway, 70 miles wide at its narrowest, separates mainland China from the island of Taiwan, where an autonomous government has survived since 1949 thanks to US support. The US switched its recognition of the legitimate Chinese government from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but has continued to funnel Taiwan support via informal means, especially after declaring China to be its primary rival in “great power competition” in 2018.

Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan and the strait, calling it a Chinese province in rebellion and rejecting US claims that the strait is international waters.

Earlier this month, US State Department spokesman Ned Price rekindled the issue by asserting that “the Taiwan Strait is an international waterway, meaning that the Taiwan Strait is an area where high seas freedoms, including freedom of navigation and overflight, are guaranteed under international law.”

He added that the world has “an abiding interest in peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and we consider this central to the security and prosperity of the broader Indo-Pacific region.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin replied in no uncertain terms, stating that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory … China has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait.”

“There is no legal basis of ‘international waters’ in the international law of the sea. It is a false claim when certain countries call the Taiwan Strait ‘international waters’ in order to find a pretext for manipulating issues related to Taiwan and threatening China’s sovereignty and security. China is firmly against this,” Wang said.

The US has dramatically stepped up its flights of spy planes and other reconnaissance aircraft like the Poseidon along China’s coast in recent years, but especially in the South and East China Seas. The Poseidon is a modified Boeing 737 airliner that carries a slew of radars and monitoring equipment for detecting surface and subsurface vessels, as well as weapons for striking them.

Earlier this month, Beijing also complained to Canberra after an Australian P-8A flew over the Paracel Islands, a South China Sea island group controlled by China but over which Vietnam has also laid claim.