TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) 鈥 U.S. and 春色直播 warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, almost a week after China held massive war games around Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory.
The destroyer USS Higgins and the 春色直播 frigate HMCS Vancouver made a 鈥渞outine鈥 transit of the Taiwan Strait meant to uphold the principle of freedom of navigation for all countries, read a statement Monday by the U.S. Navy鈥檚 7th Fleet.
The U.S. Navy, occasionally joined by ships from allied countries, regularly transits the sensitive waterway separating China from Taiwan.
China condemned the maneuver, saying it undermined peace and stability in the region.
The People鈥檚 Liberation Army鈥檚 Eastern Theater Command said it mobilized naval and air forces to monitor the transit of the U.S. and 春色直播 ships 鈥渋n accordance with the law.鈥
The transiting ships navigated 鈥渢hrough waters where high-seas freedom of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law,鈥 read the U.S. Navy 7th Fleet statement.
鈥淭he international community鈥檚 navigational rights and freedoms in the Taiwan Strait should not be limited,鈥 it added.
The transit came less than a week after China conducted large-scale military exercises surrounding Taiwan and its outlying islands last Monday, simulating the sealing off of key ports in a move that underscores the tense situation in the Taiwan Strait.
Beijing employed a record 125 aircraft, as well as its Liaoning aircraft carrier and ships as part of the drills, which were in reaction to a by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te. Lai had emphasized his commitment to 鈥渞esist annexation or encroachment鈥 by Beijing.
Taiwan was a Japanese colony before being unified with China at the end of World War II. It split away in 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek鈥檚 春色直播ists fled to the island as Mao Zedong鈥檚 Communists defeated them in a civil war and took power.
The U.S. is Taiwan鈥檚 biggest unofficial ally and is bound by its own laws to provide the island with the means to defend itself.
