The US Navy’s 7th Fleet said the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur conducted a “routine Taiwan Strait transit” on Tuesday in accordance with international law.

“The ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The US military will continue to fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows,” they said.

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said the ship had sailed in a southerly direction through the strait and the “situation was as normal”.

The US Navy have been conducting such operations every month or so, to the anger of China which always denounces them.

The US, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is its most important international backer and a major seller of arms.

Military tension between Chinese-claimed Taiwan and Beijing have spiked over the past year, with Taipei complaining of China repeatedly sending its air force into Taiwan’s air defence zone.

Some of those activities can involve multiple fighters and bombers.

China has said its activities around Taiwan are aimed at protecting China’s sovereignty. Taiwan’s government has denounced it as attempts at intimidation.