THE US sailed two of its navy warships through the Taiwan Strait for the first time since Nancy Pelosi’s contentious visit.
sailed two of its navy warships through the Taiwan Strait for the first time since Nancy Pelosi’s contentious visit.
USS Antietam and USS Chancellorsville conducted “routine” transit of the Taiwan Strait yesterday, a navy spokesman said.
The US regularly sends its warships through the waterway in what it calls “freedom of navigation” operations in international waters, but the exercise was the first since the US House Speaker visited Taiwan at the start of the month in a move that infuriated Beijing and provoked large-scale drills.
China routinely objects to foreign military vessels sailing through the Taiwan Strait, a 160km-wide waterway that divides China and Taiwan and its military yesterday said it was tracking the ships.
“Troops of the (Eastern) Theatre Command are on high alert and ready to foil any provocation at any time,” said Senior Col Shi Yi, spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command.
