United States Missile Destroyer Transit In South Taiwan, China: It's Not About Maintaining Free And Open Areas

USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93). (Wikimedia Commons/US Navy Mass Communication/Special 2nd Class Jay C. Pugh)

JAKARTA - A US warship sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait on Thursday, part of what Washington's military calls routine activity, but has angered China.

In recent years, US warships and sometimes allied countries such as Britain and Canada have sailed through the strait, sparking anger against China claiming Taiwan, contrary to the democratically elected Taipei government.

In a statement, the US military said the Arleigh Burke Class guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon (DDG-93) was transiting.

It said the transit of the USS Chung-Hoon (DDG-93) in the Taiwan Strait showed the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. In response to this in a statement, Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said China firmly opposed the move.

He also urged the United States to "soon stop provoking problems, increase tensions, undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait."

"US warships often show off their power in the name of freedom of navigation. It's not about keeping the territory free and open," the statement said.

"China will continue to be vigilant and ready to respond to all threats and provocations at any time, firmly safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity," the statement continued.

A spokesman for China's People's Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command said it was organizing troops to monitor and guard ship transits, ensuring "all movements are under control".

Separately, Taiwan's Ministry of Defense said the ship sailed north through the strait, with its troops monitoring its path and not observing anything extraordinary.

The narrow Taiwan Strait has often been a source of military tension since the government of the Republic of China, which lost its escape to Taiwan in 1949, after losing a civil war with communists, who founded the People's Republic of China.

Meanwhile, the United States does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.

China has never ruled out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Meanwhile, Taiwan vowed to defend itself if attacked, saying Beijing's claim to sovereignty did not apply because the People's Republic of China never ruled the island.