{"id":12418,"date":"2018-11-29T01:59:25","date_gmt":"2018-11-29T09:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=12418"},"modified":"2018-11-29T09:00:58","modified_gmt":"2018-11-29T17:00:58","slug":"u-s-guided-missile-destroyer-oiler-transit-taiwan-strait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=12418","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Guided-Missile Destroyer, Oiler Transit Taiwan Strait"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer and a Henry Kaiser-class fleet replenishment oiler sailed through the Taiwan Strait Wednesday, in what the Navy called a routine transit.<span id=\"more-39064\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cUSS\u00a0<em>Stockdale<\/em>\u00a0(DDG-106) and USNS\u00a0<em>Pecos<\/em>\u00a0(T-AO-197) conducted a routine Taiwan Strait Transit on Nov. 28 (local time), in accordance with international law,\u201d Lt. j.g. Rachel McMarr, a U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesperson, told USNI News in an email. \u201cThe ships\u2019 transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The U.S. Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>China routinely complains about\u00a0U.S. military transits. Beijing says sailing through the region\u00a0infringes on China\u2019s sovereignty. Along with the roughly 110-mile-wide Taiwan Strait, China also claims several reefs and artificial islands in the South China Sea as part of its sovereign territory, claims not always supported by international law.<\/p>\n<p>On\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.usni.org\/2018\/10\/22\/37445\">Oct. 22<\/a>, Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS\u00a0<em>Curtis Wilbur<\/em>\u00a0(DDG-54) and Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS\u00a0<em>Antietam<\/em>\u00a0(CG-54) transited the Taiwan Strait with no incidents, according to Pentagon officials.<\/p>\n<p>However, shortly after the October passage, Chinese officials hinted they would defend their territory and expected future U.S. Navy transits of the Taiwan Strait.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have noticed related reports. China\u2019s position on Taiwan and the South China Sea remains unchanged. The Chinese military\u2019s determination to safeguard national sovereignty and regional peace and stability is rock-solid,\u201d Senior Col. Wu Qian, the director general of the Information Office of China\u2019s Ministry of National Defense, said a month ago according to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/eng.mod.gov.cn\/news\/2018-10\/25\/content_4827867.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a state-issued English translation<\/a>\u00a0of his monthly press briefing.<\/p>\n<p>Following Wednesday\u2019s transit, Navy officials did not report any significant interactions with Chinese Navy ships. The Oct. 22 transit also occurred without incident.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.usni.org\/2018\/10\/03\/37076\">September<\/a>, though, a Luyang-class destroyer steamed on a near-collision-course with USS\u00a0<em>Decatur<\/em>\u00a0(DDG-73) as both ships traveled near the Gaven Reef. In this case,\u00a0<em>Decatur<\/em>\u00a0was finishing a Freedom of Navigation Operation in the area past some high-tide elevations.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/news.usni.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/F0C78AB4-E65B-49D3-A004-29BCB531308A.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer and&#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":[7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s-a","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12418","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=12418"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12419,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12418\/revisions\/12419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}