KEY POINTS
- A United States warship has sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the US military said.
- A spokesman for China's embassy in Washington urged the U.S. to "stop provoking troubles" and "escalating tensions".
- China claims self-governed Taiwan as its own territory against the objections of Taiwan's government.
A United States warship has sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait, part of what the US military calls routine activity but which has riled China.
In recent years US warships, and on occasion those from allied nations such as Britain and Canada, have sailed through the strait, drawing the ire of China, which claims Taiwan against the objections of its democratically elected government.
In a statement, the US military said the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Chung-Hoon carried out the transit.
"Chung-Hoon's transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," the statement said.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for China's embassy in Washington, said in a statement China firmly opposed the move and urged the US to "immediately stop provoking troubles, escalating tensions and undermining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait".
"US warships frequently flex muscles in the name of exercising freedom of navigation. This is not about keeping the region free and open," the statement said.
"China will continue to stay on high alert and is ready to respond to all threats and provocations at any time and will resolutely safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity."
Taiwan's Defense Ministry said the ship sailed in a northerly direction through the strait. It said its forces had monitored its passage and observed nothing out of the ordinary.
The narrow Taiwan Strait has been a frequent source of military tension since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the communists, who established the People's Republic of China.
The US has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan but is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.
China has never ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control.
Taiwan vows to defend itself if attacked, saying Beijing's sovereignty claims are void as the People's Republic of China has never governed the island.
A Chinese military plane came within three metres of a US air force aircraft in the contested South China Sea last month and forced it to take evasive moves to avoid a collision in international airspace.
The close encounter followed what the US had called a recent trend of increasingly dangerous behaviour by Chinese military aircraft.
