TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer patrolled through the Taiwan Strait on Thursday (Jan. 5), prompting China to accuse the U.S. of being a "maker of security risks."
The U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet on Thursday announced the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93) had "conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit" through "waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law." The press release said the warship had navigated through a "corridor in the strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state."
The Seventh Fleet said the warship's passage "demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific." The statement added that the "United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows."
On Friday morning (Jan. 6), the Ministry of National Defense confirmed that a U.S. destroyer transited through the Taiwan Strait from south to north. The defense ministry said that throughout the warship's passage via the strait, Taiwan's armed forces monitored the developments in the surrounding waters and airspace and described the situation as normal.
The Chung-Hoon was named after Gordon Pai'ea Chung-Hoon, the first Asian general officer of the U.S. Navy (1910-1979). Chung-Hoon was also the first Asian-American student to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy. He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and his father was Chinese-English-Hawaiian while his mother was Hawaiian.
Chung-Hoon served as the commander of the U.S. destroyer USS Sigsbee during World War II. In April 1945, he was attacked by Japanese kamikaze fighters off the coast of Okinawa. Although his ship was severely damaged, he still urged the officers and sailors onboard to continue fighting, and finally enabled the warship to return to port under its own power.
He was awarded the Navy Cross and Silver Star for his military exploits aboard the Sigsbee. He retired with the rank of rear admiral in 1959, and later served as the director of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture.
Chung-Hoon died in 1979 at the age of 68. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon was named after him and commissioned in 2004.
