The US hasn’t changed its policy on sending Navy vessels through the Taiwan Strait, the Pentagon said, describing a decline in the number of transits last year as nothing out of the ordinary.
(Bloomberg) — The US hasn’t changed its policy on sending Navy vessels through the Taiwan Strait, the Pentagon said, describing a decline in the number of transits last year as nothing out of the ordinary.
“Many factors affect the planning and execution of these operations including ship and aircraft availability, other military operations and exercises both in the Indo-Pacific and around the world, weather, and geopolitical events,” Pentagon spokesman John Supple said in a statement.
Supple was responding to a query from Bloomberg News about data that showed the number of US naval transits through the strait fell to the lowest level in four years in 2022 even as China steps up military pressure on the island.
Data compiled by Bloomberg showed the US 7th Fleet sent nine warships through the waters separating China and Taiwan last year. The Navy also conducted four “freedom-of-navigation operations” through the South China Sea, the fewest in six years, trips it says show its dedication to a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”
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Supple said Taiwan Strait transits were “consistent with historical norms.” He said the number of freedom of navigation exercises was “consistent with the historical average number of operations conducted over the past 10 years.”
The decline in US naval activity contrasts with the roughly 1,700 warplanes that China sent into Taiwan’s sensitive air-defense identification zone last year, almost double the number from 2021.
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