U.S. warship sails through Taiwan Strait following China war games
The Hindu
The U.S. Navy sails warships through the strait around once a month, and also regularly conducts similar freedom of navigation missions in the disputed South China Sea
The U.S. warship USS Milius sailed through the Taiwan Strait on April 16, in what the U.S. Navy described on Monday as a "routine" transit, just days after China ended its latest war games around the island.
China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, officially ended its three days of exercises around Taiwan last Monday where it practiced precision strikes and blockading the island.
It staged the drills to express anger at Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy, viewing it as an interference in China's internal affairs and U.S. support for Taiwan's separate identity from China
The U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet said the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Milius conducted a "routine Taiwan Strait transit" through waters "where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law".
The ship's transit demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, it added.
The U.S. Navy sails warships through the strait around once a month, and also regularly conducts similar freedom of navigation missions in the disputed South China Sea.
Last week, the USS Milius sailed near one of the most important man-made and Chinese controlled islands in the South China Sea, Mischief Reef. Beijing denounced it as illegal.