US Sends Warships Through Taiwan Strait

Two US guided-missile cruisers were sailing through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, the Navy reported, the first American passage since China launched military exercises in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taipei early this month. The US 7th Fleet in Japan issued a statement saying the USS Antietam and USS Chancellorsville were moving "through waters where high seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law," CNN reports. No state controls the strait, the statement said, adding, "The ships' transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific."

China's military said that it was monitored the warships' journey, per the New York Times, but included nothing about a response. Its government previously told the US it would consider the passage of warships through the strait a threat to its sovereignty. "Eastern theater forces remain on high alert, ready to thwart any provocation," Sunday's statement said. A spokesperson for the National Security Council told CNN that the mission was sending a "very clear" and "very consistent" message. "This was planned long ago," John Kirby said. (More US-China relations stories.)