Two U.S. Navy ships sailed through the Taiwan Strait this week as China’s People Liberation Army shadowed the first warship passage in the waters under the new Trump administration.
USS Ralph Johnson (DDG-114), one of the Navy’s forward-deployed destroyers based in Yokosuka, Japan, performed the strait transit with survey ship USNS Bowditch (T-AGS-62), according to a statement from U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. The two ships sailed south through the strait over the course of Feb. 10 through 12.
“Ships transit between the East China Sea and the South China Sea via the Taiwan Strait and have done so for many years,” the combatant command’s statement reads.
“The transit occurred through a corridor in the Taiwan Strait that is beyond any coastal state’s territorial seas. Within this corridor all nations enjoy high-seas freedom of navigation, overflight, and other internationally lawful uses of the sea related to these freedoms.”
The People’s Liberation Army Navy and PLA Air Force tracked the transit, according to a spokesman.
“The US’s actions sent the wrong signals and increased security risks. The troops of the Chinese PLA Eastern Theater Command remain on high alert at all times to resolutely safeguard China’s sovereignty and security, as well as regional peace and stability,” PLA Eastern Theater Command spokesman senior Capt. Li Xi said in a statement.
U.S. ships routinely conduct Taiwan Strait transits that China monitors.
The last publicly announced Taiwan Strait transit took place in October, when USS Higgins (DDG-76) and Canadian frigate HMCS Vancouver (FFH-331) sailed through the waters, USNI News reported at the time.
