US Navy Spy Plane Makes Rare Taiwan Strait Flight Ahead Of Xi White House Visit
A U.S. Navy surveillance aircraft flew through the Taiwan Strait on Friday for the first publicly reported time in five months, drawing attention from the Chinese military ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's expected visit to Washington in September.
A U.S. Navy surveillance aircraft flew through the Taiwan Strait on Friday for the first publicly reported time in five months, drawing attention from the Chinese military ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to Washington in September.
The P-8A Poseidon flew southwest through international airspace from the East China Sea to the South China Sea in what the Navy described as a routine transit,Stars and Stripes reported, citing U.S. 7th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Matthew Comer. The flight marked the first publicly reported Navy P-8 transit through the roughly 110-mile-wide strait since March 11, according to the outlet.
Beijing claims Taiwan as Chinese territory and says it has jurisdiction over the strait, while the U.S. and Taiwan consider the strait an international waterway.
“By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations,” Comer told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The aircraft’s transit of the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows.”
The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.
The P-8A is the Navy’s multi-mission maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft and is designed to conduct anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, according to aNaval Air Systems Command report. The aircraft carries technology including synthetic aperture radar, an electro-optical and infrared sensor turret and acoustic capabilities used for maritime detection and tracking, according to the report.
“I see this as a routine operation, but it is good that they are still continuing since some other actions related to Taiwan appear to have been paused in the run up to the Xi-Trump summit next month,” Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told the DCNF.