Tensions rise as China and US clash in Taiwan Strait.

China's defense minister, Gen. Li Shangfu, defended sailing a warship across the path of an American destroyer and Canadian frigate transiting the Taiwan Strait, accusing the US of provoking Beijing with "freedom of navigation" patrols. Li suggested the US and its allies had created the danger and should instead focus on taking "good care of your own territorial airspace and waters." US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the same forum 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 emphasize they are international waters, countering Beijing's sweeping territorial claims.