U.S. Warships Pass Through Taiwan Strait in First Transit Under Trump

TaiwanPlus News

Two U.S. navy ships passed through the Taiwan Strait from Monday to Wednesday, the first such transit under the new Trump administration. The action triggered a burst of Chinese military activity in the area.

Transcript

00:00Two U.S. Navy ships, a destroyer and a research vessel have passed through the Taiwan Strait

00:05from Monday through Wednesday in what is the first Taiwan Strait transit under the new

00:09U.S. administration.

00:11What's interesting about this transit is that it was first reported by China, with Beijing

00:15angrily reacting to the U.S. mission, saying that the U.S. is sending the wrong signals

00:20and adding that these kinds of transits increase security risks.

00:25The U.S. says the transit was routine and in line with international law, but did not

00:29post this on its website, marking a bit of a deviation from their normal protocol where

00:34they do make some of these transits public.

00:36Here in Taiwan, the Defense Ministry reported 30 Chinese military aircraft, as well as seven

00:41naval ships operating around the country.

00:44Twenty-three of those aircraft flew a bit closer and breached Taiwan's Air Defense Identification

00:49Zone, or ADIZ.

00:51The military uses the ADIZ as a defensive buffer, even though it's not part of Taiwan's

00:56airspace.

00:57These numbers are a bit of an indication on how China is reacting to the transit, as those

01:01numbers are much higher than the usual ten or so aircraft that Taiwan usually sees in

01:06the region.

01:07Earlier this morning, I spoke to Taiwan's Defense Ministry about the surge in Chinese

01:12military aircraft, and this is what they had to say.

01:27Taiwan's military says it scrambled its own fighter jets and deployed missile defense

01:38systems for extra measures, but says that the situation is normal.

01:43It's important to remember, though, that these kinds of transits in the Taiwan Strait by

01:46the U.S. do happen every two to three months, with the last transit happening back in November.

01:52But again, as this is the first transit under Trump 2.0, all eyes are now on China to see

01:58if they step up military activity and test this new administration on how they react

02:03to tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

02:05Ryan Woo and Jaime O'Connor in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.

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