US Coast Guard cutter sails through Taiwan Strait

A U.S. Coast Guard cutter sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait, the U.S. Navy said on Wednesday. The Stratton "transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal State," the 7th Fleet said. "Stratton's transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," it said.

A U.S. Coast Guard cutter sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait, the U.S. Navy said on Wednesday. The cutter Stratton conducted a "routine transit" of the strait on Tuesday, the Navy's 7th Fleet said in a statement.

China has said it has sovereignty over the Taiwan Strait and does not consider it to be international waters, a position disputed by the U.S. and Taiwan. The Stratton "transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal State," the 7th Fleet said.

"Stratton's transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," it said. Earlier this month, a Chinese warship came within 150 yards (meters) of a U.S. destroyer in the strait, an action U.S. military officials said was unsafe. China accused the U.S. of "deliberately provoking risk."

China views Taiwan as its own territory, a claim the government in Taipei strongly rejects.