The Navy’s Seventh Fleet dispatched a P-8 maritime patrol aircraft through the disputed Taiwan Strait on Thursday in a bid to counter expansive Chinese claims over the 100-mile-wide waterway.
“By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations,” Lt. Luka Bakic, spokesman for the Seventh Fleet, said in a statement.
“The aircraft’s transit of the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he said, adding that the American military operates in the skies and seas as allowed under international law.
Chinese state media said the P-8 was intercepted by fighter jets and monitored during the transit Thursday morning.
People’s Liberation Army Sr. Col. Shi Yi, a spokesman for the eastern theater command, said the U.S. military “publicly hyped the flight.”
Col. Shi said the command will remain on high alert in protecting security in the region.
When asked about any interference with the flight by PLA aircraft, Lt. Bakic said in an email that Navy aircraft and vessels routinely interact with foreign military aircraft and warships in the region.
“All interactions with foreign military forces during the transit were consistent with international norms and did not impact the operation,” he said.
The P-8 is a relatively new warplane used for anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and intelligence collection.
Its armaments include torpedoes, Harpoon anti-ship missiles and other weapons. During intelligence flights, the aircraft can drop sonobuoys — small floatation devices carrying an expendable sonar system.
The P-8 transit was the latest flight by the U.S. military in an area where Chinese military activities have increased significantly over the past year.
Prior to Thursday’s mission, the last P-8 flight over the Taiwan Strait took place in April and prompted the Chinese military to go on high alert.
China’s military has been sending large numbers of warplanes over the strait, many of which crossed the unofficial dividing line down the center of the waterway separating Chinese and Taiwanese airspace.
Chinese state media reports have described Beijing’s recent exercises around Taiwan as preparation for a military operation against Taiwan and intended to deter alleged separatist activity.
China recently declared the Taiwan Strait to be Chinese sovereign waters. The State Department and Taiwan’s government rejected the claim, asserting the strait is an international waterway.
U.S. and allied warships have been regularly conducting transits through the Taiwan Strait. In early September, the Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and a Canadian navy frigate, the HMCS Ottawa, conducted an operation through the strait.
A Chinese guided missile destroyer shadowed the two ships.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.
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