US warship sails through Taiwan strait amid China tensions

Taiwan says the US Navy is free to sail through its strait after an American warship did so shortly following warnings from Beijing against foreign interference in its relationship with the island.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said Thursday the warship sailed northward through the Taiwan Strait. It said joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance task force was monitoring surrounding waters from start to finish and nothing “unusual” took place.

Commander Clay Doss, a spokesman for the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet, said the “USS Antietam conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit” Wednesday to Thursday “in accordance with international law.”

China on Wednesday warned that it could use force against anyone who intervenes in its efforts to reunify Taiwan, a democratically-governed island which China considers its territory.