The United States Navy has sailed a warship through the Taiwan Strait in its first known transit since China carried out an encirclement exercise around self-ruled Taiwan.
The US 7th Fleet said the transit through the strait by the USS Milius on Sunday was routine. The cruisers “transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal State”, the statement said.
Last week China concluded large-scale air and sea drills in the strait in retaliation for Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on April 5 in California.
China said on Wednesday that the exercises simulating an encirclement of Taiwan were intended as a “serious warning” to pro-independence politicians on the self-governing island and their foreign supporters.
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China protested the transit on Monday, saying the US transit was a “public hype” and that the Eastern Theatre Command was ready at any time to “resolutely safeguard the country's sovereignty, safety, and regional peace and stability", according to a statement from the Eastern Theatre Command's spokesperson Shi Yilu.
China also sanctioned the organisations involved with Tsai's visit in the US, including the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where her meeting with McCarthy and other members of Congress were held. It also later sanctioned US Rep. Michael McCaul, the Texas Republican who chairs the chamber's Foreign Affairs Committee, for visiting Taiwan.
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On Sunday, China launched a rocket carrying a satellite that dropped debris into waters north of the capital Taipei. While the satellite launch had no obvious military purpose, it disrupted travel, delaying flights.
