Chinese military on alert as US destroyer transits Taiwan Strait in first new year sailing
- All movements under control, PLA Eastern Theatre Command says, after forces track US guided-missile destroyer Chung-hoon through strait
- US warships flex muscles in the name of freedom of navigation, Chinese embassy in Washington says, as it calls for an immediate stop to provocations
The People’s Liberation Army followed and monitored the guided-missile destroyer Chung-hoon’s passage through the strait on Thursday, and “all movements were under control”, the PLA Eastern Theatre Command said, without specifying the service branches involved.
The crossing also prompted criticism from Beijing’s embassy in the United States.
The US Navy 7th Fleet earlier said its Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-hoon had carried out a “routine Taiwan Strait transit … through waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law”.
“The ship transited through a corridor in the strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state,” it said in a statement.
“Chung-hoon’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The United States military flies, sails and operates anywhere international law allows.”
