The US Navy and Japan are developing a new system to be deployed on ships. Photo: Handout

At least two US warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Monday in an unexpected act that flies in the face of largely placid relations between China and Taiwan in recent months.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Stethem and navy cargo and ammunition ship Cesar Chavez passed through the 300-kilometer waterway separating mainland China and the self-ruled island of Taiwan on Monday and left the region in the early hours of Tuesday. In a statement, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it was fully aware of the ships’ operation in the strait.

The 8,900-ton Stethem is equipped with vertical launching systems for Tomahawk missiles as well as extensive sonar and radar systems, and it operates throughout the Pacific Ocean. In July 2017 it sailed within 12 nautical miles of the China-controlled Triton Island, the most southwestern of the Paracel Islands, in the South China Sea while conducting freedom of navigation exercises.

The supply/support vessel Cesar Chavez boasts a displacement of 41,000 tons and can haul 6,000 tons of cargo and more than 2,300 tons of fuel.

A file photo of the US cargo and ammunition ship Cesar Chavez. Photo: US Navy

The two vessels are under the command of the US Pacific Fleet headquartered in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The fleet said in a statement that “the ships’ transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

The passage also came a day after US President Donald Trump announced he would postpone further punitive tariff rises on US$200 billion worth of Chinese exports to the US, acknowledging progress being made during the marathon trade talks between the two superpowers.

This is the fifth such strait transit by US warships in the last eight months.

The US has no formal ties with Taiwan, but is bound by law to help defend the island and is its main source of arms. Washington has sold Taiwan more than $15 billion worth of weaponry since 2010, according to the US Defense Department.

Join the Conversation

153 Comments

  1. Admiring the commitment you put into your website and detailed information you offer.

    It’s good to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same
    old rehashed material. Excellent read! I’ve bookmarked your site
    and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account.

  2. Hello there, I found your web site by the use of Google
    at the same time as searching for a comparable topic, your site came up, it appears to
    be like great. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.

    Hi there, just was aware of your blog via Google, and located that it is
    really informative. I am gonna watch out for brussels.
    I will appreciate for those who continue this in future.
    Numerous other people will likely be benefited out of your writing.

    Cheers!

  3. Greetings! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a collection of volunteers and starting a new project in a community in the same niche.
    Your blog provided us useful information to work on. You have
    done a marvellous job!

  4. Heya i’m for the first time here. I came across
    this board and I find It really useful & it helped me out much.
    I hope to give something back and help others like you
    aided me.

  5. What’s up it’s me, I am also visiting this site regularly,
    this site is genuinely good and the visitors are actually sharing pleasant thoughts.

  6. Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site before but
    after checking through some of the post I realized it’s new
    to me. Anyways, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back often!

  7. Seleccione Todas las cookies y los datos de sitios. Alternativamente, una instalación puede consistir en varias máquinas y un conjunto de manos robóticas que transfieren partes de una aplicación a otra, pero con todo controlado por el mismo programa. Los costes de producción de una serie de piezas en una máquina-herramienta se dividen en unos costes fijos y unos costes por unidad de producción.

  8. En el mecanizado de precisión de tubo se utilizan diseños, a menudo en tres dimensiones, hechos mayoritariamente con programas CAM, que permiten establecer la forma, el grosor, el diámetro y el largo del tubo, además de otras variables relacionadas con el material, etc.

  9. Ponemos a su servicio nuestra oficina técnica e ingeniería para el diseño de sus productos con el enfoque de optimizar costes, basándonos en nuestro know-how en procesos productivos. Calidad, Precio y Servicio, son las tres cualidades que siempre nos han distinguido, y que nos ha permitido evolucionar y mantener la confianza de nuestros clientes.

  10. En Mecanizados Cavisa S.L. contamos con maquinaria de control numérico complementada con maquinaria convencional y con un excelente equipo de profesionales cualificados con amplia experiencia en mecanizado y formación continua. En MCD se hacen los procesos de corte y enderezado, taladro, rectificado, roscado, mecanizado y manipulación con la mejor tecnología del mercado.

  11. Hola ,son unos sinvergüenzas,yo compre una caldera de gas fagor y con sólo tres meses de uso el técnico a venido cinco veces ,en su servicio pone que en 24 horas están allí,totalmente mentira!!!!tardan3 o4 días y lo que con ello conlleva estar sin agua y sin calefacción ,nosotros hemos puesto una queja en consumo y si no nos la cambian vamos a seguir por vía judicial,ya está bien de que nos engañen!!!!!

  12. Buena prueba de ellos, son las diferencias de material empleado: mientras en los electrodomésticos antiguos existe mayor empleo de piezas metálicas de acero inoxidable, en los electrodomésticos actuales predominan las plásticas, lo que influye en la durabilidad de los mismos. Reparación de consolas y dispositivos móviles, equipos de sonido, refrigerador de vinos, trituradoras, televisores antiguos, etcétera. Para darte un servicio más personalizado, QDQ utiliza cookies propias y de terceros.