The United States Navy sent two aircraft into the disputed Taiwan Strait early Wednesday in a move likely to rankle China.
Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Seventh Fleet, Indo-Pacific Command and China’s foreign ministry by email with a request for comment.
Why It Matters
Beijing’s Communist Party-led government claims Taiwan as its own territory, despite never having governed the island. China also asserts sovereignty over the Taiwan Strait, which most countries regard as international waters.
The U.S., and increasingly several of its allies, conduct military transits through the 100-mile-wide waterway to assert freedom of navigation rights. China has frequently objected to the presence of what it calls “outside powers” not only in the strait but also in the adjacent South and East China seas.
What To Know
A P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft departed from a base in Japan’s Okinawa prefecture and flew west toward the Taiwan Strait, according to open-source flight tracking data.
The aircraft then proceeded down the middle of the strait and by 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday had almost reached the southern end. It was the first reported P-8 transit since November 2024.
Based on the Boeing 737 airframe, the P-8A is specifically designed for anti-submarine warfare and is equipped with advanced sensors, sonobuoys, torpedoes and anti-ship missiles.
Shortly after the Poseidon’s passage, a U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance drone also appeared to enter the strait, taking a route around Taiwan’s southern tip.
The transits coincided with Taiwan’s largest annual series of drills, the Han Kuang exercise, which are designed to test the island’s readiness in the event of a potential invasion by China.
What People Have Said
The U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet said of the Taiwan Strait transit by a P-8A Poseidon in November: “The aircraft’s transit of the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows.”
Chinese state-backed think tank the South China Sea Probing Initiative wrote of U.S. military flights in an X (formerly Twitter) post Monday: “Such operations are carried out…thousands of times around China every year.
“Only when they attempt to enter Chinese airspace or endanger the safety of Chinese platforms will they be intercepted. Is the People’s Liberation Army being too restrained and too reasonable?”
What’s Next
Neither the Chinese nor Taiwanese authorities had issued a public statement on the latest transits as of publishing time.
U.S. Navy vessels are expected to continue sailing through the Taiwan Strait several times per year, as well as maintaining a presence in other disputed parts of the Asia-Pacific region, such as the South China Sea.
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