TAIPEI: The US warship USS Milius sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday (Apr 16), in what the US 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 US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy, viewing it as an interference in China’s internal affairs and US support for Taiwan’s separate identity from China
The US 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 transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal State,” the Navy said. “The United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows.”
The ship’s transit demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, it added.
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