Two U.S. Navy ships sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait this week in their first such mission since President Donald Trump took office last month, drawing an angry response from China, which said the mission raised security risks.
The U.S. Navy, sometimes accompanied by ships from allied nations, transits the strait about once a month. China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, says the strategic waterway belongs to it.
China's military said the two U.S. ships, the destroyer Lyndon B. Johnson and the survey ship Bowditch, passed through the strait between Monday and Wednesday, adding that troops had been sent to stand guard.
"The US action sends the wrong signal and increases security risks," the People's Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command said in a statement early Wednesday (February 12).
The U.S. Navy confirmed the voyage. The last publicly acknowledged U.S. Navy mission in the strait was in late November, when a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft flew over the waterway.
The last time a US Navy ship was confirmed to have sailed through the strait was in October, on a joint mission with a Canadian warship.
China's military operates daily in the strait as part of what Taiwan's government sees as Beijing's pressure campaign. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future.
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