China protests after US Navy’s latest transit through Taiwan Strait
- The Seventh Fleet says USS John Finn’s passage was a sign of its commitment to a ‘free and open’ Indo-Pacific
- But Beijing condemns the voyage, the third such under Joe Biden, as a ‘provocation’ that ‘sends the wrong message’
The US Navy has sent a warship through the sensitive Taiwan Strait, prompting an angry protest from Beijing.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit on Wednesday in accordance with international law, the US Seventh Fleet said in a statement.
“The ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.
“The US military will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows,” said the statement, which included photos of the warship sailing through the narrow waterway that separates the mainland and the self-ruled island.
According to the US Seventh Fleet, the John Finn, part of the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group, was on a scheduled deployment in the fleet’s area of operations.
Photos released by the fleet also showed an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter practising take-offs and landings on the destroyer’s flight deck.