US warship sails through Taiwan Strait days after Chinese military drills

The US Navy has said its guided-missile destroyer, the USS Milius, had sailed through the Taiwan Strait in a so-called "freedom of navigation" operation days after China staged massive military maneuvers around the self-ruled island.

The warship "conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit" on Sunday, the US Navy's 7th Fleet announced in a statement, "through waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law."

"Milius' transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," read the statement.

This was the first such exercise by the United States though this sea corridor since January.

The 7th Fleet shared images on Twitter of the crew looking out from the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer at the Taiwan Strait, a major international shipping channel that separates the island of Taiwan and continental Asia.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry in a statement confirmed the transit, saying that the military was in control of the situation as the US warship sailed through the strait northward, and noted that no irregularities were spotted.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command said it closely followed and monitored the warship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait.

“The US Navy hyped up the transit of a USS Milius guided-missile destroyer through the Taiwan Strait,” Senior Col. Shi Yi, Spokesperson for the PLA Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement on Monday.

The USS Milius mission through the Taiwan Strait came after China carried out large-scale military exercises around the island last week.

In the three-day drills, it used all different types of weaponry, including long-range rocket artillery, naval destroyers, missile boats, fighter jets and bombers. Chinese military forces rehearsed the encirclement of Taiwan.

It was part of measures taken by Beijing in response to President Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California on April 5 before she concluded her 10-day overseas trip that included visits to Taiwan's Central American allies.

ME