A US Navy destroyer transited the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, the fifth time a US warship has navigated the waterway since US President Joe Biden assumed office in January.
“The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54) conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit May 18 (local time) in accordance with international law. The ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the US 7th Fleet said in a statement.
“The United States military will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows,” it said.
Photo: AP
US warships, all Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, had made similar passages since Biden took office on Jan. 20: the USS John S. McCain on Feb. 4 and April 17, the USS Curtis Wilbur on Feb. 24, and the USS John Finn on March 10.
The US has sent warships into the region in the past few years to counter China’s growing military presence in the South China Sea and neighboring waters, and show its continued commitment to Asia.
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday confirmed the passage of a US Navy destroyer through the Strait from north to south the previous day.
It said that during the ship’s passage, the military used joint intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance tools to monitor movements at sea and in the air around Taiwan, and described the situation as normal.
The US Pacific Fleet posted a message on Facebook yesterday saying that the US 7th Fleet aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force guided-missile destroyer JS Maya sailed together during a training exercise in the Philippine Sea.
The post had several photographs attached and bore the hashtag #NavyPartnerships followed by Japanese and US flags.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
RSS