A United States warship has sailed through the Taiwan Strait in what the country’s navy described as a routine transit, just days after China ended its latest war games around the island.
In a statement on Monday, the US Navy’s 7th Fleet said the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Milius sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday.
The warship conducted a “routine Taiwan Strait transit” through waters “where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law”, it said.
The ship’s transit demonstrates Washington’s commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, it added.
China said on Monday that it had tracked a US warship through the Taiwan Strait, adding that Washington had “hyped up” the transit.
Colonel Shi Yi, a Chinese military spokesman, said troops in the area “remain on a high level of alert at all times and will resolutely defend national sovereignty and security as well as regional peace and stability”.
