Two US warships have crossed the Taiwan Strait, the US Navy announced this Sunday, in the first such transit since China held unprecedented military exercises near the island.
In a statement, the US Navy said the transit "demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region."
Tensions across the Taiwan Strait have reached their highest level in years, following a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in early August.
China has carried out unprecedented land and sea military exercises in retaliation, and Taiwan has held its own exercises to simulate defense against an invasion by China.
Taiwan lives under the constant threat of an invasion by Beijing, which considers the autonomous island as part of its territory to be reconquered one day, and if necessary by force.
Beijing rails against any diplomatic moves that might confer legitimacy on Taiwan and has reacted with increasing aggressiveness to visits by Western officials and politicians.
The US Seventh Fleet has assured that the two Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers, the USS Antietam and the USS Chancellorsville, made a 'routine' transit 'in waters where freedom of navigation and overflight apply according to with international standards'. The Seventh Fleet is based in Japan and is an essential part of Washington's naval presence in the Pacific.
In addition, he pointed out that the two ships had taken "a corridor of the Taiwan Strait that is beyond the territorial waters of any coastal state", and added that the US military reserves the right "to operate where the law allows. international".
China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has claimed that the United States has "made great publicity" around the ships passing through the strait. "The PLA Eastern Theater Command tracks and warns US ships during their transit, and is aware of their every move," said Shi Yie, spokesman for the Chinese military's Eastern Command. "Theater (Eastern) troops remain on high alert and are ready... to thwart any provocation," he added.
The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense has reported, for its part, that two US cruisers had crossed the Taiwan Strait from north to south, without naming them. "As they travel south through the Taiwan Strait, the military is monitoring movements in our sea and air space... and the situation is normal," the source said.
On August 12, Washington announced its intention to strengthen its commercial relations with Taiwan and to carry out new air and sea crossings in the strait, in response to China's "provocative" actions.
During the most important military maneuvers in its history around Taiwan, the Chinese army had deployed warships, missiles and fighter planes for five days, simulating a blockade of the island.
On August 16, Vice Admiral of the Seventh Fleet, Karl Thomas, described as "irresponsible" the launch of ballistic missiles on the island by Beijing during its maneuvers and affirmed that these shots had grazed the routes of international shipping.
