U.S. warship in Taiwan Strait, originally under Biden

Taipei | The U.S. Navy says a U.S. warship has crossed the Taiwan Strait for the first time since the inauguration of US President Joe Biden last month.

Destroyer USS John S. The Seventh Fleet said in a statement that McCain had made a “routine” route by sea between Taiwan and mainland China.

American ships generally use the strait for Beijing’s pornography, which considers the island part of its territory.

“China is vigilant and responds at all times to threats and provocations,” Chinese diplomatic spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday.

Wang told reporters that his country was “closely monitoring the situation.”

The People’s Republic of China considers foreign navigation in these waters to be a violation of its sovereignty, while the United States and other countries consider the region to belong to international waters and are therefore open to all.

USS John S. McCain’s navigation “demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the Seventh Fleet said.

“The U.S. military will continue to fly, navigate and operate wherever international law permits.”

The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense confirmed the route without naming the ship involved. He said two American reconnaissance planes and an American fighter flew near Taiwanese airspace on Monday.

Since President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in Taiwan in 2016, Beijing has intensified efforts to further isolate the island of the People’s Republic of China, from a traditionally hostile party, not only diplomatically, but also militarily.

Last year, Chinese military planes made 380 incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIS).

“Addiz” is an airspace in which a state wants to identify and locate aircraft for national security reasons.

Some experts say the mainland between China and Taiwan has been the highest since the mid-1990s.