U.S. Navy again sails through Taiwan Strait, angering China
Source: Reuters
WORLD NEWS MAY 22, 2019 / 10:17 PM / UPDATED 6 HOURS AGO
U.S. Navy again sails through Taiwan Strait, angering China
Idrees Ali
4 MIN READ
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said it sent two Navy ships through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, its latest transit through the sensitive waterway, angering China at a time of tense relations between the worlds two biggest economies.
Taiwan is one of a growing number of flashpoints in the U.S.-China relationship, which also include a bitter trade war, U.S. sanctions and Chinas increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea, where the United States also conducts freedom-of-navigation patrols.
The voyage will be viewed by self-ruled Taiwan as a sign of support from the Trump administration amid growing friction between Taipei and Beijing, which views the island as a breakaway province.
The transit was carried out by the destroyer Preble and the Navy oil tanker Walter S. Diehl, a U.S. military spokesman told Reuters.
The ships transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, Commander Clay Doss, a spokesman for the U.S. Navys Seventh Fleet, said in a statement.
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-navy/u-s-navy-again-sails-through-taiwan-strait-angering-china-idUSKCN1ST062