US Warships Sail through Taiwan Strait amid Tensions with China

Local Editor

The US Navy has once again challenged the ‘One China’ policy by sending its vessels through the Taiwan Strait in what it called a routine freedom-of-navigation exercise, without being deterred by Chinese jet overflights and previous warnings.

After sailing in the vicinity of the Chinese-claimed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea earlier this month, USS McCampbell [DDG-85] reached another disputed waterway in the Pacific on Thursday.

Conducting what the US Navy claimed to be a “routine” passage, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer was joined by Henry Kaiser-class oiler USNS Walter S. Diehl [T-AO-193] as they sailed across the 110-mile-wide Taiwan Strait.

“The ships’ transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Lt. Cmdr. Tim Gorman told USNI News.

“The US Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.”

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense confirmed the passage of US warships, separately noting that mainland China’s air force was continuing its overflights in the region for the second day running.

H6 bombers and KJ500 early warning and control planes were seen flying over the Bashi Channel on Thursday.

A day earlier, the Chinese reportedly sent “various military aircraft,” including a Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet and a Shaanxi Y-8 transport plane over the waterway separating the Philippines from Taiwan. Taipei responded by sending military aircraft and surveillance ships to the region.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team