US guided missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence makes a transit in the Taiwan Straits on April 23, 2025. The PLA Eastern Theater Command organizes naval and air forces to track and monitor the US vessel's transit throughout its entire course, and effectively deals with it in accordance with the law. Photo: Screenshot from the Weibo account of the PLA Eastern Theater Command

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command tracked and monitored a US warship transiting the Taiwan Straits on Wednesday, a military spokesperson revealed on Thursday. A video released by the PLA Eastern Theater Command showed how the PLA Navy shadowed the US vessel, a move Chinese experts said showed that all actions by the US warship were under control of the PLA.

Senior Colonel Shi Yi, a spokesperson for the PLA Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement on Thursday that US guided missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence made a transit in the Taiwan Straits on Wednesday, which the US side publicly hyped. 

The PLA Eastern Theater Command organized naval and air forces to track and monitor the US vessel's transit throughout its entire course, and effectively dealt with it in accordance with the law, the spokesperson said.

Citing a spokesperson for the US Indo-Pacific Command, US media outlet Newsweek on Thursday claimed that the USS William P. Lawrence, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, "conducted a routine Taiwan Straits transit on Wednesday through waters where freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law."

The US' remarks have distorted right and wrong, misrepresented legal principles, and misled international perceptions, Shi said.

We sternly warn the US to stop distorting and sensationalizing the issue and to work together to jointly safeguard peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits, said the spokesperson.

A video released alongside Shi's statement showed that PLA Navy personnel, likely on board a Chinese warship, watched the US warship through a pair of binoculars, and the US vessel was clearly visible.

After viewing the video, Fu Qianshao, a Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times on Thursday that at this range, Chinese forces could clearly see every move of the US vessel, and were ready to respond to any potential moves from the US side.

The PLA shadowed and escorted the US warship through the Taiwan Straits, making sure it posed no threat, Fu said, noting that the PLA has sufficient measures to deal with foreign warship transits in the Taiwan Straits.

Song Zhongping, another Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times on Thursday that with the PLA's capabilities, any foreign warship's transit in the Taiwan Straits is now merely a political show of presence, and has little military significance.

Zhuo Hua, an international affairs expert at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Thursday that from a legal perspective, both under international law and domestic law, the two sides of the Taiwan Straits are part of China's territory. China enjoys full sovereignty and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Straits, and there is no such thing as "international waters" in the Taiwan Straits. Therefore, the so-called "freedom of navigation" does not apply. The passage of US warships through the Taiwan Straits constitutes an illegal provocation against China's sovereign rights.

In addition, the Philippines and the US are holding the Balikatan joint drills, with the US deploying an anti-ship missile system in the Luzon Strait of the northern Philippines. Some analysts said the aim of the move is to practice blocking the Bashi Channel in the event of a crisis in the Taiwan Straits.

The series of provocative actions by the US military is an attempt to contain China through topics related to Taiwan and the South China Sea and coercing China into making concessions, Zhuo said, noting that for a long time, the combination of military threats and economic coercion has been a habitual tactic of American bullying. Historical experience has repeatedly proven that such tactics are utterly futile when used against China. At all times, the Taiwan question remains the core of China's core interests and is purely China's internal affair, which brooks no interference from external forces, Zhuo said. 

The Chinese side has repeatedly slammed military collusion between the US and Taiwan. At the Chinese Defense Ministry's latest regular press conference on Thursday, spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang reiterated this stance.

When asked to comment about reports from Taiwan media, claiming the US side sent a retired four-star army general, who was also a former commander of US Forces Korea, to serve as the senior observer for the war games of this year's Han Kuang Exercise, and the war games revealed five potential patterns of joint operations between Taiwan and the US in wartime, Zhang said that, "We firmly oppose any form of military collusion between the US and Taiwan."

To embolden and support "Taiwan independence" separatists is to ruin peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits. Those who do that will get burned for playing with fire, and taste the bitter fruit of their own doing, Zhang said.

We urge the US side to stop stirring up troubles on the Taiwan question, earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communiqués, and deliver on its promise of not supporting "Taiwan independence". We solemnly warn the DPP authorities that those who solicit US support for "Taiwan independence" will be stabbed in the back, and be abandoned as a useless pawn, the spokesperson said.