A US warship yesterday sailed  through a sensitive waterway separating Taiwan from China, the US Navy said, as a demonstration of Washington’s “commitment to upholding freedom of navigation”.

China claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory, and has in recent years upped military pressure by sending in increasing numbers of fighter jets, drones and naval vessels around the island.

Yesterday’s transit of the 180km Taiwan Strait comes as the United States and its allies have increased crossings to reinforce its status as an international waterway, angering Beijing.

The voyage by the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph  Johnson showed Washington’s “commitment to upholding freedom of navigation for all nations as a principle”, the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet said in a statement  yesterday. “No member of the international community should be intimidated or  coerced into giving up their rights and freedoms.”  Taiwan’s defence ministry confirmed that the warship sailed south to north, and that “no anomaly was detected in our surroundings”. 

Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army dismissed the transit as “a public hype,” and said its Eastern Theatre Command “organised naval and air forces to tail and stand guard against the US ship’s passage throughout the entire process”.

Chinese troops “are on constant high alert to resolutely defend national sovereignty,” it said in a statement.

A Canadian Halifax-class frigate c onducted last month “a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait”, a move condemned by the Chinese military. Beijing has said it would never renounce the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in recent years upping the rhetoric of “unification” being  “inevitable”.

In response, Taiwan has strengthened economic and political ties with its  partners – most notably the United States, its biggest weapons provider – while increasing its defence budget. – Nampa/AFP