TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Two US Navy vessels navigated the Taiwan Strait on Friday and Saturday.
The US Navy's Seventh Fleet said the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn and Pathfinder-class oceanographic survey ship USNS Mary Sears conducted the routine transit through waters “where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law,” per USNI News. It said the ships navigated through a "corridor in the strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state."
It said the passage demonstrates the US commitment to upholding freedom of navigation for all nations. It stressed that the US "rejects any assertion of sovereignty or jurisdiction that is inconsistent with freedoms of navigation, overflight, and other lawful uses of the sea and air."
The MND on Saturday said it monitored maneuvers around Taiwan, per Liberty Times.
The PLA's Eastern Theater Command on Saturday said it deployed naval and air forces to monitor and track the US ships throughout their transit, “ensuring effective response and management.” It added that its troops “remain on high alert to resolutely safeguard China's national sovereignty and security, as well as regional peace and stability.”
This marks the fourth time a US warship has transited the Taiwan Strait since US President Donald Trump took office last January and the first since his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Oct. 30, per CNA. However, unlike the previous three instances, the PLA did not condemn the US military's actions.
