U.S. Coast Guard Ship Transits Taiwan Strait

A US Coast Guard ship sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, the US Navy's 7th Fleet said, transiting the waterway a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken completed a rare visit to Beijing, Reuters reported.

Photo Insert: The US Navy's 7th Fleet said USCGC Stratton conducted a "routine" Taiwan Strait transit on Tuesday "through waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law."

The strait, which separates China from the democratically governed island of Taiwan, is a frequent source of tension as Beijing steps up its political and military pressure to try to force Taipei to accept Chinese sovereignty.

The US Navy's 7th Fleet said USCGC Stratton conducted a "routine" Taiwan Strait transit on Tuesday "through waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law."

"Stratton's transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.

The US military flies, sails and operates anywhere international law allows," the 7th Fleet added in its statement. US warships, and on occasion, those of its allies, have routinely sailed through the strait in recent years, to the anger of China, which views such missions as “provocations.”

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