China slams US for ship’s passage weeks before new leader takes office

In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey conducts routine underway operations while transiting through the Taiwan Strait Wednesday

China’s military criticized a U.S. destroyer’s passage through the Taiwan Strait less than two weeks before the island’s new leader takes office and while Washington and Beijing are making uneven efforts to restore regular military exchanges.

Navy Senior Capt. Li Xi, spokesperson for China’s Eastern Theater Command, accused the U.S. of having “publicly hyped” the passage of the USS Halsey this week. In a statement, Li said the command, which oversees operations around the strait, “organized naval and air forces to monitor” the ship’s transit.

The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said the Halsey “conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit on May 8 through waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law.”

The guided-missile destroyer transited through a corridor in the strait that is “beyond the territorial sea” of any coastal state, the fleet said in a statement.

“Halsey’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to upholding freedom of navigation for all nations as a principle,” it said. “No member of the international community should be intimidated or coerced into giving up their rights and freedoms. The United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows.”

China’s accusation that the transit was “publicly hyped” — essentially meaning it was played up for maximum political effect. There was no indication the U.S. Navy had operated any differently in the latest case, nor that the Chinese response was any more strong.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it was fully aware of the destroyer’s passage.

“Throughout the transit, the Taiwanese military was closely monitoring the surrounding sea and airspace, and the situation remained normal,” the ministry said.

The last such passage was on April 17, a day after U.S. and Chinese defense chiefs held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. Military-to-military contact stalled in August 2022, when Beijing suspended all such communication after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. China responded by firing missiles over Taiwan and staging a surge in military maneuvers, including what appeared to be a rehearsal of a naval and aerial blockade of the island.

The critical strait is 160 kilometers wide and divides China from Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy where leader-elect William Lai Ching-te will be inaugurated on May 20. Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party favors Taiwan’s de facto independent status under which it maintains strong unofficial relations with the U.S. and other major nations.

Taiwan’s military heightens its alert status around sensitive dates, such as this January’s elections, wary that China might use its vastly more powerful military to attempt to intimidate voters and sway public opinion in favor of Beijing’s insistence that unification between the sides is inevitable. CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, TAIPEI, MDT/AP