{"id":11168,"date":"2018-10-22T11:26:28","date_gmt":"2018-10-22T18:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=11168"},"modified":"2018-10-22T11:26:52","modified_gmt":"2018-10-22T18:26:52","slug":"two-u-s-navy-warships-sail-through-taiwan-strait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=11168","title":{"rendered":"Two U.S. Navy warships sail through Taiwan Strait"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">Two U.S. Navy warships have sailed through the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan\u2019s Ministry of National Defense\u00a0<a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mnd.gov.tw\/Publish.aspx?p=75711\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">said<\/a>\u00a0in a statement Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur and Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Antietam traversed the strait Monday, U.S. Pacific Fleet confirmed to Business Insider. The U.S. Navy\u00a0<a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2018\/07\/07\/navy-destroyers-taiwan-strait\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">conducted<\/a>\u00a0a similar operation in July, sending the destroyers USS Mustin and USS Benfold through the tense waterway.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUSS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54) and USS Antietam (CG 54) conducted a routine Taiwan Strait Transit on Oct. 22, in accordance with international law,\u201d Cmdr. Nate Christensen, Deputy Spokesman, US Pacific Fleet. \u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ships\u2019 transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,\u201d he added. \u201cThe U.S. Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The pair of U.S. Navy warships conducted \u201ca routine Taiwan Strait transit in accordance with international law,\u201d Pacific Fleet spokesperson Lt. j.g. Rachel McMarr told BI, adding that the purpose of the mission was to demonstrate \u201cthe U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific\u201d and to remind others that \u201cthe U.S. Navy will continue to fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"om-d91pqbgc6cc8hgfcaqod-holder\">\n<div id=\"om-d91pqbgc6cc8hgfcaqod\" class=\"tp-oim-inline-background tp-oim-inline-d91pqbgc6cc8hgfcaqod tp-oim-inline-optin-visible tp-oim-inline-post tp-oim-inline-action\">\n<div id=\"tp-oim-inline-optin\" class=\"tp-oim-inline-clearfix tp-oim-inline-outer-wrap tp-oim-inline-custom-html-form\">\n<div id=\"tp-oim-inline-body\" class=\"tp-oim-inline-element-row tp-oim-inline-element-row-global tp-oim-inline-body\" data-selectable=\"true\" data-target=\"#builder-setting-content_bg\">\n<div id=\"tp-oim-inline-header\" class=\"tp-oim-inline-clearfix tp-oim-inline-header\">\n<div id=\"tp-oim-inline-element-title\" class=\"tp-oim-inline-element-title tp-oim-inline-element\" data-element=\"title\">\n<div class=\"tp-oim-inline-element-title-wrap\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tp-oim-inline-footer\" class=\"tp-oim-inline-clearfix tp-oim-inline-footer\">\n<div id=\"tp-oim-inline-element-form\" class=\"tp-oim-inline-element-form tp-oim-inline-element\" data-element=\"form\">\n<div id=\"tp-oim-inline-form\" class=\"tp-oim-inline-form tp-oim-inline-has-email tp-oim-inline-has-buttons\">\n<div class=\"tp-oim-inline-form-wrap\">\n<form id=\"tve-lead-form\" class=\"oim-form-container\">The latest move comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing, which have been fighting over a variety of issues ranging from trade to territorial disputes.<\/form>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"\">China, concerned that U.S. military actions around Taiwan will embolden pro-independence factions on the self-ruled island, has bolstered its military presence in the area this past year. The Chinese military has sailed its aircraft carrier and accompanying escort ships through the Taiwan Strait and conducted \u201cencirclement\u201d exercises involving fighters, bombers, and other military assets throughout the year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Beijing perceives Taiwan as a breakaway province and has threatened to take military action if Taiwan attempts to declare independence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two U.S. Navy warships have sailed&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-china","category-u-s-a","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11168"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11170,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11168\/revisions\/11170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}