“demonstrated the U.S. ‘commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific'”
Last month, on the first full weekend of the new Biden administration, China sent fighter jets and bombers into the airspace around Taiwan. As I said at the time, it was a not-so-subtle signal. Today, the U.S. sent another signal back by sending a Navy destroyer through the Taiwan straight: The USS John S. McCain, a guided-missile destroyer based in Japan, conducted a routine journey through the channel, which divides China and Taiwan, complying with international law, Lt. Joe Keiley, a spokesperson for the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet, said in statement. The ship’s transit demonstrated the U.S. “commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he said, adding that the military would “continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.” As CNN reports, these freedom of navigation transits through the straight aren’t new as both the Obama and Trump administration made them fairly frequently: US warships transiting the Taiwan Strait are seen by Beijing as provocations that threaten stability in the region by encouraging supporters of Taiwanese independence. The last transit occurred on New Year’s Eve when the McCain and a second destroyer, the USS Curtis Wilbur, went through the strait, according to US Navy statements. US warships transited the waterway 13 times in 2020, according to the US 7th Fleet, the most since 12 such transits in 2016, the final year of former President Barack Obama’s administration. So the message to China should be pretty clear: Nothing has changed.
