China said it sent planes to watch and warn the P-8A anti-submarine plane as it flew over the sensitive waterway on Friday.
“US Navy ships and aircraft routinely interact with foreign warships and aircraft during their operations in the region,” the US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement.
“All interactions with foreign military forces during transit were in accordance with international standards and had no impact on the operation,” he added.
“The United States will continue to fly, navigate, and operate wherever international law permits, including the Taiwan Strait. The aircraft’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
The plane’s passage came after Taiwan launched fighter jets twice last week to prevent two large-scale Chinese air force incursions into the Taiwan Air Defense Zone.
The Taiwan Strait has seen frequent military tensions since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war against the Communists, who established the People’s Republic of China.
This month, China said it “has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait” and called it a “misrepresentation that some countries call the Taiwan Strait “international waters”. “.
Both the United States and Taiwan have refuted this claim, saying they do indeed consider these to be international waters.
In recent years, US warships, and on occasion those from allied nations such as Britain and Canada, have navigated the strait, incurring the ire of China.