US sails warships through Taiwan Strait amid tensions with China

By: Ryan Browne and Barbara Starr

The United States Navy sent two warships, USS Curtis Wilbur and USS Antietam, through the Taiwan Strait on Monday morning. Chinese warships shadowed the US warships from a "safe" distance. The Strait is seen as a tension point between China and Taiwan, and the US warships show that the US is willing to intervene. Usually the US sends warships through once a year, but this number has increased this year. Trump wants closer ties to Taiwan which increases tensions with China. Secretary of Defense Mattis says that US still has its "one China policy", but the two nations will have disagreements. Mattis wants to remind China that it does not have control over international waters. This is just another encounter between the US and China over China's view of their presence in the South China Sea. 

Web: https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/22/politics/us-warships-taiwan-strait-china/index.html

By: Morgan Knight