Cmdr. Reann Mommsen, spokesperson for the US 7th fleet, said that the US guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit in accordance with international law.
“The ship's transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The US Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows,” he added.
"All interactions between [Chinese] ships and aircraft were professional and routine” during the transit, a Navy official told Fox News.
The Taiwan Strait transit was the ninth by the US Navy this year. The last one occurred in late September, when the USS Antietam, another guided-missile cruiser, conducted a similar transit.
The transit comes as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley visits Japan for a meeting with Prime Minister Shinzō Abe to help repair diplomatic relations with South Korea after a recent spat over intelligence sharing between Tokyo and Seoul.
