Crew members assigned to the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Stratton drive an interceptor boat toward a Taiwanese fishing vessel in the Pacific Ocean, Feb. 2, 2022. (Sarah Stegall/U.S. Marine Corps)
A U.S. Coast Guard cutter steamed through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, a day ahead of a group of Chinese navy vessels, including an aircraft carrier, making a similar trip.
The USCGC Stratton “transited through a corridor” of international waters in the 110-mile-wide strait “beyond the territorial sea” of any surrounding state, according to a 7th Fleet news release the following day.
The strait separates mainland China from the functional democracy Taiwan, which China claims as a renegade province it will one day reclaim.
China’s growing military strength, its stated intent to assert sovereignty over Taiwan and recent military exercises around the island give rise to international tension in the area. The strait is one of the most important shipping channels in the world.
“Stratton’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the 7th Fleet statement said. “The United States military flies, sails and operates anywhere international law allows.”
The Chinese coast guard tracked and “fully monitored” the Stratton during its transit, spokesperson Gan Yu said in a statement Thursday on the official China Military website.
“China Coast Guard will resolutely protect China’s national sovereignty, security and maritime rights and interests,” Gan’s statement reads.
Also Wednesday, the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong and its escorts passed southbound on the west, or Chinese, side of the strait, USNI News reported Thursday.
The Stratton made its transit a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
“The Secretary underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and reiterated there has been no change to the U.S. one China policy,” which is based on previously stated U.S. policies and the Taiwan Relations Act, according to a State Department readout of the meeting.
However, Xi declined Blinken’s request to resume military-to-military communication channels, according to The Associated Press. Chinese diplomat Yang Tao attributed the denial to U.S. sanctions.
