US 7th Fleet Warship Transits Taiwan Strait - Indo-Pacific Command

�WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th May, 2021) The United States has sent the Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer Curtis Wilbur through the Taiwan Strait to demonstrate its commitment to free navigation in the region, the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) said.

"The ship's transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The United States military will continue to fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows," a command press release said on Tuesday.

In 2020, the United States operationally challenged 28 different excessive maritime claims by 19 different nations, the Defense Department said in a recent report.

Many of the challenges target Chinese claims, especially in the South China Sea, the northern portion consisting of a 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait.

China considers Taiwan a rebel province and routinely protests whenever US warships transits the strait, as in April, following a similar voyage by the destroyer John S. McCain.