The ship sailed in a northerly direction through the sensitive waterway and Taiwan’s armed forces monitored it throughout, the ministry said in a brief statement on Friday, describing the sailing as an “ordinary mission.”
“People can rest easy,” it added.
Taiwan denounced that as attempted intimidation.
The U.S. Navy said the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh had completed a transit of the Taiwan Strait, without giving details. The United States has been conducting sporadic missions through the strait in the last two years.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the government also “closely watched” and monitored the ship’s passage, urging the United States to “appropriately deal with the Taiwan issue in a way that doesn’t hurt Sino-U.S. relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
Washington has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself and is its main source of arms.
Meeting the de facto British ambassador to Taiwan later on Friday, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said the island would ensure peace in the Taiwan Strait.
“As a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan will continue to dedicate itself to protecting peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” the presidential office cited Tsai as telling Catherine Nettleton.
Under the Trump administration, the United States has made bolstering its defense and other ties with Taiwan a priority, in spite of Chinese anger.
“Perhaps this concept sounds simple, but it is important to consider its significance within the current context,” said Christensen, director of the American Institute in Taiwan.
“Some use the cover of friendship to dominate and manipulate; promising mutual benefit but instead delivering extortion; exporting problems rather than solutions,” he added.
“The United States and Taiwan are members of the same family of democracies,” he added.
