The United States sent two Navy warships through Taiwan Strait what was the first US naval transit in the waterway since US China tensions hiked this month over the visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island, reports CNN.
The guided-missile cruisers named USS Antietam and USS Chancellorsville are making the voyage "through waters where high seas freedoms of navigation and over flight apply in accordance with international law," the US 7th Fleet in Japan said on Sunday in a statement.
It said the transit was ongoing and free of foreign military interference so far.
"These ships (are transiting) through a corridor in the strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state. The ships' transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows," it said.
The Chinese military's Eastern Theater Command said it was monitoring the two ships, maintaining a high alert and was "ready to thwart any provocation."
The strait is a 110-mile (180-kilometer) stretch of water that separates the democratic self-ruled island of Taiwan from mainland China.
Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan despite China's ruling Communist Party never having controlled the island -- and considers the strait part of its "internal waters."
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
