US Navy dispatches destroyer, cargo ship through Taiwan Strait in message to China
The U.S. Navy dispatched a guided-missile destroyer and a cargo ship through the Taiwan Strait Monday, the latest in a series of American military maneuvers intended to send a message to Beijing that the United States will continue its support of Taiwan in the face of recent threats by the Chinese government.
The passage through the strait -- shadowed by Chinese warships -- comes hours after President Trump touted “substantial progress” in trade talks with China and announced plans to delay a planned tariff increase on $200 billion in Chinese goods, which had been scheduled to go into effect next week.
"USS Stethem (DDG 63) and USNS Cesar Chavez (T-AKE-14) conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit on Feb. 25 (local time), in accordance with international law,” Lt. Cmdr. Tim Gorman, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, told Fox News in an email. “The ships' transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.
He added: “The U.S. Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows."
The passage from south to north in the Taiwan Strait marked the fourth time since October that U.S. naval vessels had sailed through the strait, according to a U.S. defense official. Earlier this month, two U.S. warships also sailed near China’s contested man-made islands in the South China Sea -- islands the Chinese military has fortified with anti-ship and surface-to-air missiles last year.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-navy-dispatches-destroyer-cargo-ship-through-taiwan-strait-in-message-to-china/ar-BBU3Roo?li=BBnb7Kz