LAST UPDATE: 10:07
Two US Navy vessels are sailing in international waters in the Taiwan Strait, making the first such crossing since tensions with China escalated over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in early August.
China’s military has said it is monitoring US Navy ships sailing through the Taiwan Strait, maintaining high alert and ready to repel any provocations.
In recent years, US warships, and sometimes vessels from US allies such as Britain, have regularly sailed through the strait, angering Beijing.
Chinese authorities took the prominent Democratic politician’s visit to the island as a provocation and interference in its internal affairs and responded by holding the largest Taiwan Strait military drills in history and imposing trade sanctions on the island.
China considers the island of about 23 million people, with its own autonomous government, a breakaway province destined to be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary. Taiwan has remained autonomous since the end of the Chinese Civil War (1949).
US officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said the crossing was being carried out by two US Navy cruisers, Chancellorsville and Antietam.
The information was confirmed by the US Naval General Staff, reports AFP.
The Chinese military is monitoring the situation
Source: Capital
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