USS John S. McCain  Photo: Xinhua

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command said Thursday it tracked and monitored the movements of the USS John S. McCain guided-missile destroyer as it sailed through the Taiwan Straits on Thursday and opposed the US repeating old tricks to deliberately create tensions and disturb regional peace and stability.

The US sent the USS John S. McCain guided-missile destroyer through the Taiwan Straits on Thursday and openly hyped the incident. The PLA Eastern Theater Command tracked and monitored the warship, Senior Colonel Zhang Chunhui, the spokesperson of the theater command, said in a statement released on Thursday.

The US move is an old trick of manipulating the situation in the Straits, and it deliberately created tensions to interrupt regional peace and stability, and we expressed strong opposition to it, Zhang said. 

No matter how the situation changes in the Taiwan Straits, the troops of the PLA Eastern Theater Command will fulfill their duty and mission, firmly safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the peace and stability of the region, Zhang said.

CNN reported that the Japan-based USS John S. McCain made “the routine transit in accordance with international law,” Lt. Joe Keiley, a spokesperson of the US Navy's 7th Fleet, said in a statement.

Global Times