U.S. WARSHIP SAILS THROUGH TAIWAN STRAIT

| FROM THE NEWSROOM | JANUARY 5, 2023 | 7: 36 PM |

A U.S. warship sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait on Thursday, part of what the U.S. military calls routine activity but has riled up China. In recent years, U.S. warships, and on occasion those from allied nations such as Britain and Canada, have sailed through the strait, drawing the ire of China, which claims that Taiwan is a part of Chinese territory against the objections of its democratically elected government. In a statement, the U.S. military said the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Chung-Hoon’s “transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’

commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.” The Taiwan Strait has been one of the most frequent sources of military tension since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the civil war with the Chinese Communist Party, who established today’s People’s Republic of China. The United States has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself from outside threats like China.