In the strait, the cruise ships “transited through a corridor that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal State,” according to the statement.
In its first transit of the Taiwan Strait since China conducted a significant encirclement exercise around Taiwan, the US Navy has sailed a warship. The USS Milius’ Sunday passage in the strait, according to the US 7th Fleet, was regular.
In the strait, the cruise ships “transited through a corridor that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal State,” according to the statement. In response for Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on a visit to the US earlier this month, China staged several military exercises in the Taiwan Strait.
China said on Wednesday that the mock encirclement maneuvers by air and water were meant to serve as a “serious warning” to Taiwan’s pro-independence legislators and their international backers.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where Tsai met with McCarthy and other members of Congress, was one of the organizations associated with her visit to the US that China also sanctioned.
China fired a rocket on Sunday carrying a satellite that crashed into the sea north of Taipei. Although there was no evident military aim for the satellite launch, it interfered with traffic and delayed aircraft.