TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The U.S. Navy has confirmed that Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer the USS Dewey sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Jan. 22.

The date fell just before Vice President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) departure from Taiwan on Jan. 25 to lead a special delegation to attend Honduran President Xiomara Castro’s inauguration ceremony. The spokesperson of the U.S. Seventh Fleet told CNA the passage was a “routine transit in international waters in accordance with international law.”

Chinese media called the move an act of “provocation” against China. “Is the U.S. military feeling a little disappointed from the lack of drama?” the Global Times wrote in an article published on Monday (Jan. 31),

The Chinese state-run tabloid wrote that “such frequent, pseudo-provocative actions” fully show the U.S. is responsible for sabotaging peace and creating security threats across the Taiwan Strait. The report was published on the same day China sent five military planes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), marking the 24th intrusion in January.

The USS Dewey’s passage on Jan. 22 marks the first time this year that a U.S. Navy vessel has passed through the Taiwan Strait. In 2021, American naval ships made the transit on 12 occasions.

The U.S. military has repeatedly stressed that such transits show the “U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific” and that “the U.S. military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows.”