Two U.S. Navy ships transited the Taiwan Strait for the first time since President Donald Trump retook office on Jan. 20. According to a report in Reuters, the Navy identified the vessels as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and Pathfinder-class survey ship, USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit February 10-12, it said. “The transit occurred through a corridor in the Taiwan Strait that is beyond any coastal state’s territorial seas,” said Navy Commander Matthew Comer, a spokesperson at the U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific Command. “Within this corridor all nations enjoy high-seas freedom of navigation, overflight, and other internationally lawful uses of the sea related to these freedoms.”
“The Chinese PLA Eastern Theater Command organized its navy and air force troops to monitor the whole process of the U.S. vessels’ passage, and effectively managed the situation,” said Senior Captain Li Xi, spokesperson for the Chinese PLA Eastern Theater Command, in a written statement released on Feb. 12, reported the PLA website. “The U.S.’s actions sent the wrong signals and increased security risks. The troops of the Chinese PLA Eastern Theater Command remain on high alert at all times to resolutely safeguard China’s sovereignty and security, as well as regional peace and stability,” stressed the spokesperson.
