{"id":42448,"date":"2019-02-26T01:00:09","date_gmt":"2019-02-26T01:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/02\/26\/tit-for-tat-in-the-taiwan-strait\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:50:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:50:33","slug":"tit-for-tat-in-the-taiwan-strait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/02\/26\/tit-for-tat-in-the-taiwan-strait\/","title":{"rendered":"Tit-for-tat in the Taiwan Strait"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two U.S. Navy ships sailed through the Taiwan Strait <\/a>this week, the latest tit-for-tat move as American forces seek to portray the western Pacific as traditionally open to international shipping and Beijing attempts to assert dominance over contested waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guided-missile destroyer Stethem<\/a> and the dry cargo ship Cesar Chavez<\/a> sailed the strait on Monday and Tuesday, \u201cin accordance with international law,\u201d according to a statement by the Japan-based U.S. 7th Fleet<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the second such transit this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seventh Fleet officials in Japan confirmed that the U.S. vessels encountered Chinese forces, but declined to detail what happened, instead calling the interaction \u201croutine and uneventful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis routine transit demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,\u201d the command statement read. \u201cThe U.S. Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. officials also always allude to international waters when describing warships that conduct freedom of navigation operations, or FONOPs, in the nearby South China Sea<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Navy FONOPs typically involve vessels sailing near man-made Chinese islands that Beijing has fortified with materiel, runways and radars.<\/p>\n\n\n\t