A US Navy destroyer yesterday sailed through the Taiwan Strait to show Washington’s “commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the Seventh Fleet of the US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson was conducting a routine transit through international waters, the fleet said.
“The ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Seventh Fleet spokesperson Nicholas Lingo said in a statement. “The United States military flies, sails and operates anywhere international law allows.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense confirmed the transit, saying in a statement that the military had a full grasp of the situation as the US warship sailed through the Strait northward, and did not spot any irregularities.
According to the US military, the last time the US Navy conducted a similar navigation was on Jan. 22, when the USS Dewey (DDG-105), an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, sailed through the Strait.
US Navy ships routinely sail through the Taiwan Strait, but yesterday’s transit came as the crisis in Ukraine continues to unfold.
Taiwan is in a heightened state of alert due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, nervous that China might try to take advantage of the situation to make a move on the nation, although the government has reported no unusual Chinese maneuvers.
The air force last night said that eight Chinese military aircraft had entered the nation’s southwestern air defense identification zone earlier in the day.
Taiwan responded by dispatching planes to monitor the Chinese aircraft, issuing radio warnings and mobilizing air defense assets, it added.
China has sent record numbers of military aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone over the past two years.
Beijing says Taiwan is the most sensitive and important issue in its relations with Washington.
A growing number of US allies have transited the Strait as Beijing intensifies its military threats toward Taiwan and solidifies its control over the disputed South China Sea.
British, Canadian, French and Australian warships have all passed through the Strait in the past few 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 Strait.
Nine were conducted in 2019, followed by 15 in 2020 and 12 last year. So far this year there have been two, including the USS Ralph Johnson crossing.
Additional reporting by Wu Su-wei and AFP
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