US Warship USS Milius Returns to Sail through the Taiwan Strait, Days After China Completed Military Exercises

USS Milius (DDG-69) missile destroyer (Wikimedia Commons/US Navy/Journalist 2nd Class Zack Baddorf)

JAKARTA - The United States' Arleigh Burke Class guided-missile destroyer USS Milius (DDG-69) sailed through the Taiwan Strait again on Sunday, in what the US Navy said was a routine transit, just days after China concluded its latest war games around the island.

The US Navy's 7th Fleet said the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Milius made a "routine transit of the Taiwan Strait" through waters "where freedom of navigation and overflight applies in accordance with international law," Reuters reported on April 17.

"The ship's transit demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," he added.

The US Navy flies warships through the strait once a month, and also regularly conducts similar freedom of navigation missions in the disputed South China Sea.

Last week, the USS Milius sailed near one of the most important man-made islands controlled by China in the South China Sea, Mischief Reef. Beijing has denounced it as illegal.

China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, officially ended three days of drills around Taiwan last Monday, during which it practiced precision strikes and blockaded the island.

Beijing staged drills to express anger at Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy, seeing it as interference in China's internal affairs and US support for Taiwan's identity separate from China

Furthermore, China has continued its military activities around Taiwan since the drills ended, albeit on a reduced scale.

On Monday morning, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said it had spotted 18 Chinese military aircraft and four naval vessels operating around Taiwan in the previous 24-hour period.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring democratically-ruled Taiwan under its control.

Meanwhile, the Taiwanese government rejects China's territorial claims, saying only the islanders can determine their future.