Sunday marked the first public transit of two U.S. Navy vessels through the Taiwan Strait since U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in early August, at a time when tensions have kept the waterway extremely active.
According to the U.S. 7th Fleet, the USS Antietam and USS Chancellorsville are undertaking a regular transit. According to the statement, the cruisers “passed through a corridor in the Strait that is outside the territorial sea of any coastal state.”
China staged many military exercises in the strait to punish Taiwan over Pelosi’s travel to the self-governing island despite Beijing’s threats.
Since Pelosi’s visit, China has dispatched numerous warships, bombers, and long-range missiles to the Taiwan Strait and the waters surrounding Taiwan. It regards the island as part of its national territory and rejects any visits by foreign governments that would constitute recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign entity.
China stated that it has tracked the ships’ movements. “Troops of the (Eastern) Theater Command are on high alert and prepared to counter any provocation at any time,” said senior colonel Shi Yi, spokesman for the Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army.
On June 18, 2016, the guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) transits the Philippine Sea. Navy/AP photo of Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ryan J. Batchelder
John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, stated on CNN on Sunday that the transit conveyed a “pretty clear, very consistent message… that the United States Navy and military will sail, air, and operate wherever international law authorizes us to do so.”
Kirby added that the transit was “quite consistent with our ‘One China’ policy and our goal to continue working toward a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
The United States often sends its ships through the Taiwan Strait as part of freedom of navigation drills.
The 160-kilometer-wide (100-mile-wide) strait separates Taiwan from China.