A U.S. guided-missile destroyer transited the 90-mile-wide Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, U.S. 7th Fleet announced.
USS John Finn (DDG-113) moved through the strait from the South China Sea to the East China Sea, according to the statement.
“U.S. ships transit between the South China Sea and the East China Sea via the Taiwan Strait and have done so for many years. The transit occurred through a corridor in the Taiwan Strait that is beyond any coastal state’s territorial seas,” reads the statement.
The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command said Chinese forces monitored the transit, according to a statement on Chinese social media service Weibo.
12 PLA aircraft and 6 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. today. 2 of the aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s SW and eastern ADIZ. pic.twitter.com/5z469E6hxE
— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C. 🇹🇼 (@MoNDefense) March 5, 2024
During the same period of the transit, the PLA had a dozen military aircraft with two of the aircraft crossing over the median line of the strait, which is considered a provocative action, and six Chinese warships were in the vicinity, according to the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense post on X.
The passage of the Japan-based destroyer is the second announced Taiwan Strait transit of a U.S. warship following John Finn’s passage on Jan. 24.
Prior to the January transit, U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS Rafael Peralta (DDG-115) and Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ottawa (FFH-341) moved through the strait in November. At the time, the Chinese said the U.S. “hyped up” the transit.
