TAIPEI, Apr 17 (Net) — The U.S. Navy has sailed a warship through the Taiwan Strait in its first known transit since China carried out an encirclement exercise around self-ruled Taiwan.
The U.S. 7th Fleet said the transit through the strait by the USS Milius on Sunday was routine. The cruisers “transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal State,” the statement said.
China last week concluded large-scale air and sea drills in the strait in retaliation for Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on a visit to the U.S. earlier this month. China said Wednesday that the exercises simulating an encirclement of Taiwan were intended as a “serious warning” to pro-independence politicians on the self-governing island and their foreign sup-porters.
China also sanctioned the organizations involved with Tsai’s visit in the U.S., including the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where her meeting with McCarthy and other members of Congress were held. It also later sanctioned U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, the Texas Republican who chairs the chamber’s Foreign Affairs Committee, for visiting Taiwan.
On Sunday, China launched a rocket carrying a satellite that dropped debris into waters north of the cap-ital Taipei. While the satellite launch had no obvious military purpose, it disrupted travel, delaying flights.
