Thursday, a US warship transited the tense Taiwan Strait as part of what the US military considers routine activity, which has angered China.
In recent years, US warships and occasionally those of allied nations such as the United Kingdom and Canada have crossed the Taiwan Strait, attracting the ire of China, which claims Taiwan against the wishes of its democratically elected government.
The US military stated that the transit was conducted by the guided-missile destroyer Chung-Hoon of the Arleigh Burke class.
The statement continued, "Chung-Hoon’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific."
Liu Pengyu, the spokesman for China's embassy in Washington, said in a statement that China firmly opposed the decision and urged the United States to "immediately stop provoking troubles, escalating tensions and undermining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait."
"US warships frequently flex muscles in the name of exercising freedom of navigation. This is not about keeping the region free and open," said the statement.
"China will continue to stay on high alert and is ready to respond to all threats and provocations at any time, and will resolutely safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity."
A spokesman for the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army stated that troops were deployed to monitor and protect the ship's transit and that "all movements were under control."
The Defense Ministry of Taiwan reported that the ship sailed through the strait on a northern route and that its soldiers had monitored its passage and seen nothing unusual.
Since the defeated Republic of China government retreated to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to the communists who created the People's Republic of China, the Taiwan Strait has been a regular source of military conflict.
The United States has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan but is obligated to supply the island with defensive capabilities by law.
China has never ruled out the use of force to subjugate Taiwan. Taiwan promises to defend itself if attacked, arguing that Beijing's sovereignty claims are invalid because the People's Republic of China has never administered the island.
Last month, a Chinese military plane flew within 10 feet (3 m) of a US air force aircraft in the contentious South China Sea, forcing it to do evasive maneuvers in international airspace to avoid a collision.
The close encounter followed what the United States had called a recent trend of increasingly risky activity by Chinese military aircraft.
