China monitors as US Navy destroyer sails through Taiwan Strait

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – A US warship sailed through Taiwan Strait on Tuesday while the Chinese forces held monitoring exercises over the largely contested waters.

A statement by the US 7th Fleet, based out of Asia-Pacific, said its Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Milius (DDG 69) “conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit on Nov. 23 through international waters in accordance with international law.”

The naval and air activity in Taiwan Strait has intensified in the recent past amid increased exchanges between the self-ruled island of Taiwan and the US and its allies.

Chinese military said its forces tracked the passage of the US warship through the strait.

It was the 10th time under the Joe Biden administration that a US warship has passed through the strait which separates mainland China and Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its "breakaway province."

A spokesperson for China’s People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command said it “organized naval and air forces to track and monitor the USS Milius destroyer as it transited the Taiwan Straits.”

“The ship's transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The US military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows,” said the US 7th Fleet, which claims to “advance Indo-Pacific regional maritime security and enhance stability.”

The passage of the warship was from the south towards the north of the Taiwan Strait.