Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
South China Sea

Washington DC, Sep 14: An American navy warship has on Friday transited through strategic South China Sea, in defiance of Beijing’s resistance to such moves, in the midst of intense trade war, further irking China, the US military said.

US Navy’s Seventh Fleet spokesperson Commander Reann Mommsen told Reuters the warship, Wayne E. Meyer, had challenged disputed territorial claims in the recent operation, including what she termed as additional Chinese claims across the Paracel Islands – also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.

“…China has attempted to claim more internal waters, territorial sea, exclusive economic zone, and continental shelf than it is entitled under international law,” Mommsen said.

The Chinese foreign and defence ministeries were no available for immediate comments over a request, according to Reuters news reports.

In another attempt to reduce the ongoing trade tensions with the US, China’s Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council on Friday announced that it would exempt some agricultural and livestock products such as soy and pork from additional tariffs imposed on American products.

The decision comes two days after China on Wednesday announced that it would postpone the application of tariffs on 16 US products until September 2020, instead of the previously announced deadline of September 17, reports Efe news.

The United States and China have on Thursday agreed to resume high-level bilateral trade talks in early October in Washington DC amid an intense trade war between two world’s largest economies.

According to Strait Times, the fresh dialogues were discussed during a telephonic conversation between US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese vice premier Liu He, the Chinese commerce ministry stated in an official statement.

 

Also read: Trade War : US-China consent to resume bilateral high-level talks in October

 

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