US Sails Warships Through Taiwan Strait

Two US warships sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait on Thursday, the US Navy said, the second such mission this month and coming almost two weeks after a mainland aircraft carrier group used the same waterway.

Beijing has been angered by stepped-up US support for the island, including arms sales and sailing warships through the Taiwan Strait, further souring Sino-US relations. The defence ministry in Beijing denounced the mission as a "provocation".

"The Chinese People's Liberation Army maintains a high level of alert at all times, responds to all threats and provocations at all times, and resolutely defends national sovereignty and territorial integrity," the ministry said in a statement.

The US Navy said the guided missile destroyers USS John S McCain and USS Curtis Wilbur had "conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit December 31 in accordance with international law".

"The ships' transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The United States military will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows."

This is the 13th sailing through the strait by the US Navy this year.

Taiwan's Defence Ministry said the ships had sailed in a northerly direction through the strait on what it termed an "ordinary mission". Taiwan's armed forces monitored the sailing and the situation is "as normal", it added.

Beijing's Defence Ministry issued no immediate response.

China's military said it had tailed the last US warship to pass through the Taiwan Strait on December 19, and denounced the mission.

The day after that trip, Taiwan deployed its navy and air force as an aircraft carrier group led by the mainland newest carrier, the Shandong, sailed through the Taiwan Strait.

Beijing said the group was on its way to routine drills in the disputed South China Sea. (Reuters)

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