TAIPEI,
Taiwan — A
US warship sailed through the strait separating Taiwan and China on Saturday,
the navy said, the second such passage this year.
اضافة اعلان
The voyage through the
Taiwan Strait by the
Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson was a routine
transit, the US Seventh Fleet said.
“The ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait
demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” it
said in a statement.
“The United States military flies, sails, and
operates anywhere international law allows.”
Taiwan’s defense ministry confirmed a
US vessel was sailing through the strait, adding its military was “fully
monitoring relevant activities near our sea and air, and the situation was
normal”.
US warships periodically conduct exercises in
the strait, often triggering angry responses from Beijing, which claims Taiwan
and the surrounding waters as its own territory.
The United States and many other countries
view the route as international waters open to all.
A growing number of US allies have transited
the route as Beijing intensifies its military threats towards Taiwan and
solidifies its control over the disputed
South China Sea.
British, Canadian, French and Australian
warships have all made passages through the Taiwan Strait in recent years, sparking
protests from Beijing.
Collin Koh, a research fellow at
Singapore’s
S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, keeps a database of declared US
transits through the Taiwan Strait.
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