China defends buzzing warship in Taiwan Strait, accuses US for provocation

China's defence minister defended sailing a warship across the path of an American destroyer and Canadian frigate transiting the Taiwan Strait, telling a gathering of some of the world's top defence officials in Singapore on Sunday that such so-called freedom of navigation patrols are a provocation to China.

In his first international public address since becoming defence minister in March, Gen. Li Shangfu told the Shangri-La Dialogue that China doesn't have any problems with innocent passage but that we must prevent attempts that try to use those freedom of navigation (patrols), that innocent passage, to exercise hegemony of navigation.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told the same forum Saturday that Washington would not flinch in the face of bullying or coercion from China and would continue regularly sailing through and flying over the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea to emphasise they are international waters, countering Beijing's sweeping territorial claims.

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