US destroyer crosses Taiwan Strait, risking Chinese anger
- USS Barry conducts ‘routine’ transit through waterway separating China from Taiwan
- US Navy often holds such ‘freedom of navigation’ operations in area, provoking strong responses from Beijing
A US battleship crossed the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, the US Navy said, risking angering China, which claims sovereignty over the maritime thoroughfare.
The guided-missile destroyer USS Barry conducted a “routine Taiwan Strait transit October 14 (local time) in accordance with international law,” Seventh Fleet spokeswoman Reann Mommsen said in a statement.
“The ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” she added.
The US Navy regularly conducts so-called “freedom of navigation” operations in the Taiwan Strait, which separates China from the island. The operations always provoke strong responses from Beijing.
00:42
China threatens retaliation over US plans to supply Taiwan with arms
China considers Taiwan part of its territory. The island is led by a rival government that took refuge there after communists took power in China in 1949, at the end of the Chinese Civil War.