China announced that it is on “high alert” after the United States Navy Two US ships crossed the Taiwan Strait this Sunday.
The measure comes after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in early August will heighten tensions with Beijing, which has responded by stepping up military exercises in the strait and the waters surrounding Taiwan.
The USS Antietam and the USS Chancellorsville are conducting a “routine transit” through waters where “the freedoms of navigation and overflight on the high seas apply in accordance with international law,” the 7th Fleet said. United States in a statement.
“These ships transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal State,” the statement said.
“The transit of the ship across the Taiwan Strait demonstrates America’s commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The US military flies, sails and operates anywhere international law allows.”
China said it was tracking the movement of ships.
“ The PLA Eastern Theater Command troops are always on high alert and ready to thwart any provocation,” said Col. Shi Yi, spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army Eastern Command.
Hu Xijin, former tabloid editor Global Times of China, described the transit as the “new provocation” of the US military.