(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- On Thursday, a warship from the United States traveled across the contentious Taiwan Strait as part of what the United States military considers to be routine activities but which irritates China.
In recent years, warships from the United States and occasionally those from other nations such as Britain and Canada have gone across the strait, attracting the ire of China, which claims Taiwan against the protests of its democratically elected government.
According to a statement released by the United States military, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Chung-Hoon completed the transit.
In addition, the statement mentioned that “Chung-transit Hoon’s through the Taiwan Strait illustrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
According to the Defense Ministry of Taiwan, the ship traveled across the strait in a northerly direction, and Taiwanese forces monitored its transit while ensuring that nothing out of the ordinary occurred.
An early response to a request for comment from the Chinese Embassy in Washington was not forthcoming.
Since the defeated Republic of China government retreated to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the communists, who created the People’s Republic of China, the Taiwan Strait has frequently been a source of conflict between the armed forces of both countries.
Despite the absence of formal diplomatic ties between the two countries, the United States is legally obligated to equip Taiwan with the capability to defend itself.
China has never said it will not use force to subjugate Taiwan. Taiwan has solemnly sworn to protect itself if it comes under assault and asserted that Beijing’s claims to sovereignty over the island are invalid because the People’s Republic of China has never held administrative control over Taiwan.
Last month, the United States Air Force aircraft operating in the contentious region of the South China Sea was compelled to do evasive maneuvers to avoid being involved in a collision with Chinese military aviation that came within three meters (ten feet) of it.
The United States has described a recent trend of increasingly risky behavior by Chinese military aircraft, and this close encounter was the latest example of that trend.
