First US Navy Ships Sail through Taiwan Strait Since Trump Inauguration 

In this photo provided by the US Navy, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey conducts routine underway operations while transiting through the Taiwan Strait May 8, 2024. (AP/US Navy)
In this photo provided by the US Navy, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey conducts routine underway operations while transiting through the Taiwan Strait May 8, 2024. (AP/US Navy)
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First US Navy Ships Sail through Taiwan Strait Since Trump Inauguration 

In this photo provided by the US Navy, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey conducts routine underway operations while transiting through the Taiwan Strait May 8, 2024. (AP/US Navy)
In this photo provided by the US Navy, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey conducts routine underway operations while transiting through the Taiwan Strait May 8, 2024. (AP/US Navy)

Two US Navy ships sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait this week in the first such mission since President Donald Trump took office last month, drawing an angry reaction from China, which said the mission increased security risks.

The US Navy, occasionally accompanied by ships from allied countries, transits the strait about once a month. China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, says the strategic waterway belongs to it.

The US Navy said the vessels were the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and Pathfinder-class survey ship, USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit February 10-12, it said.

"The transit occurred through a corridor in the Taiwan Strait that is beyond any coastal state's territorial seas," said Navy Commander Matthew Comer, a spokesperson at the US military's Indo-Pacific Command. "Within this corridor all nations enjoy high-seas freedom of navigation, overflight, and other internationally lawful uses of the sea related to these freedoms."

China's military said that Chinese forces had been dispatched to keep watch.

"The US action sends the wrong signals and increases security risks," the Eastern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army said in a statement early Wednesday.

China considers Taiwan its most important diplomatic issue and it is regularly a stumbling block in Sino-US relations.

China this week complained to Japan over "negative" references to China in a statement issued after a meeting between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

That statement called for "maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait", and voiced support for "Taiwan's meaningful participation in international organizations".

Asked in Beijing on Wednesday about the US warships, Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said that Taiwan was a "core interest" for the country and that the United States should act with caution.

"We are resolutely opposed to this and will never allow any outside interference, and have the firm will, full confidence and capability to uphold the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity," she said.

Taiwan's defense ministry said its forces had also kept watch but noted the "situation was as normal".

China's military operates daily in the strait as part of what Taiwan's government views as part of Beijing's pressure campaign.

On Wednesday, Taiwan's defense ministry said that it had detected 30 Chinese military aircraft and seven navy ships operating around the island in the previous 24-hour period.

"I really don't need to explain further who is the so-called troublemaker around the Taiwan Strait. All other countries in the neighborhood have a deep appreciation of this," ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang told reporters in Taipei.

Chinese state television said on Wednesday that since Lunar New Year's Eve on January 28, the Eastern Theater Command had repeatedly dispatched sea and air forces to carry out "combat readiness" patrols and training missions around Taiwan.

The operations aim to "guard the joy and peace of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait", the report said.

The last publicly acknowledged US Navy mission in the strait was in late November, when a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft flew over the waterway.

The last time a US Navy ship was confirmed to have sailed through the strait was in October, a joint mission with a Canadian warship.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future.



White House Withdraws Nomination for US Hostage Envoy

FILE PHOTO: Adam Boehler, US President Donald Trump's Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing when he was CEO of the US International Development Finance Corporation, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, US, April 14, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Adam Boehler, US President Donald Trump's Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing when he was CEO of the US International Development Finance Corporation, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, US, April 14, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo/File Photo
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White House Withdraws Nomination for US Hostage Envoy

FILE PHOTO: Adam Boehler, US President Donald Trump's Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing when he was CEO of the US International Development Finance Corporation, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, US, April 14, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Adam Boehler, US President Donald Trump's Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing when he was CEO of the US International Development Finance Corporation, in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, US, April 14, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo/File Photo

The Trump administration has withdrawn the nomination of Adam Boehler to serve as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, the White House said on Saturday.
Boehler, who has been working to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, will continue hostage-related work as a so-called "special government employee," a position that would not need Senate confirmation.
"Adam Boehler will continue to serve President Trump as a special government employee focused on hostage negotiations," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
"Adam played a critical role in negotiating the return of Marc Fogel from Russia. He will continue this important work to bring wrongfully detained individuals around the world home."
A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Boehler withdrew his nomination to avoid divesting from his investment company. The move was unrelated to the controversy sparked by his discussions with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
"He still has the utmost confidence of President Trump," said the official.
"This gives me the best ability to help Americans held abroad as well as work across agencies to achieve President Trump’s objectives," Boehler told Reuters in a brief statement.
Boehler recently held direct meetings with Hamas on the release of hostages in Gaza. The discussions broke with a decades-old policy by Washington against negotiating with groups that the US brands as terrorist organizations.
The talks angered some Senate Republicans and some Israeli leaders. According to Axios, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer expressed his displeasure to Boehler in a tense phone call last week.