A U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft, similar to the one pictured here over the Atlantic Ocean in June 2026, flew the length of the 110-mile-wide Taiwan Strait on Aug. 21, 2026. (Peter McHaddad/U.S. Navy)
A U.S. Navy surveillance plane has flown through the Taiwan Strait for the first time in five months, drawing scrutiny from China ahead of President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to the White House.
The P-8A Poseidon — a long-range maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft equipped with advanced sensors — flew Friday through international airspace over the roughly 110-mile-wide waterway separating China from Taiwan, according to the U.S. 7th Fleet.
The aircraft traveled southwest from the East China Sea to the South China Sea in what fleet spokesman Cmdr. Matthew Comer described as a “routine transit.”
“U.S. Navy ships and aircraft routinely use the Taiwan Strait to transit between the two and have done so for many years,” he told Stars and Stripes by email Monday.
The United States regularly sends warships and, less frequently, aircraft through the strait. The Navy typically describes the trips as an exercise in freedom of navigation.
“The aircraft’s transit of the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Comer wrote. “The United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows.”
The last publicly reported transit of the strait by a Navy P-8A occurred March 11.
China routinely criticizes U.S. military transits of the strait as provocative.
The Chinese military monitored Friday’s passage, the state-run Global Times reported that day, citing unnamed military sources.
Commentary published by the newspaper Sunday characterized the flight as “close-in reconnaissance” carrying “an element of military pressure.”
Beijing considers democratic Taiwan a breakaway province that must eventually be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary. China also claims sovereignty and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait.
Friday’s transit came about five weeks before Xi is expected to make his first state visit to the White House since 2015.
The two governments have been preparing for the visit through months of high-level talks, including a meeting last month in Manila between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
President Donald Trump and Xi are expected to discuss issues such as Taiwan, trade concerns and technology, Reuters reported Saturday.
STARS AND STRIPES VIDEOS
AROUND THE WEB
STRIPES TOP NEWS
