US Military Aircraft Detected Near China
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
The United States Navy sent two aircraft into the disputed Taiwan Strait early Wednesday in a move likely to rankle China.
Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Seventh Fleet, Indo-Pacific Command and China's foreign ministry by email with a request for comment.
Why It Matters
Beijing's Communist Party-led government claims Taiwan as its own territory, despite never having governed the island. China also asserts sovereignty over the Taiwan Strait, which most countries regard as international waters.
The U.S., and increasingly several of its allies, conduct military transits through the 100-mile-wide waterway to assert freedom of navigation rights. China has frequently objected to the presence of what it calls "outside powers" not only in the strait but also in the adjacent South and East China seas.
A U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon descends from a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker after receiving fuel as part of a combat readiness exercise over the North Sea, on May 10, 2025.
A U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon descends from a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker after receiving fuel as part of a combat readiness exercise over the North Sea, on May 10, 2025.
Airman 1st Class Aidan Martínez/U.S. Air Force
What To Know
A P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft departed from a base in Japan's Okinawa prefecture and flew west toward the Taiwan Strait, according to open-source flight tracking data.
The aircraft then proceeded down the middle of the strait and by 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday had almost reached the southern end. It was the first reported P-8 transit since November 2024.
Based on the Boeing 737 airframe, the P-8A is specifically designed for anti-submarine warfare and is equipped with advanced sensors, sonobuoys, torpedoes and anti-ship missiles.
Shortly after the Poseidon's passage, a U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance drone also appeared to enter the strait, taking a route around Taiwan's southern tip.
The transits coincided with Taiwan's largest annual series of drills, the Han Kuang exercise, which are designed to test the island's readiness in the event of a potential invasion by China.
What People Have Said
The U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet said of the Taiwan Strait transit by a P-8A Poseidon in November: "The aircraft's transit of the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows."
Chinese state-backed think tank the South China Sea Probing Initiative wrote of U.S. military flights in an X (formerly Twitter) post Monday: "Such operations are carried out…thousands of times around China every year.
"Only when they attempt to enter Chinese airspace or endanger the safety of Chinese platforms will they be intercepted. Is the People's Liberation Army being too restrained and too reasonable?"
What's Next
Neither the Chinese nor Taiwanese authorities had issued a public statement on the latest transits as of publishing time.
U.S. Navy vessels are expected to continue sailing through the Taiwan Strait several times per year, as well as maintaining a presence in other disputed parts of the Asia-Pacific region, such as the South China Sea.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
6 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
China is expanding into digital currencies, hoping to promote use of its ‘people's money'
BANGKOK — China has been expanding use of digital currencies as it promotes wider use of its yuan, or renminbi, to reflect its status as the world's second-largest economy and challenge the overwhelming sway of the U.S. dollar in international trade and finance. However, restrictions on access to Chinese financial markets and limits on convertibility of the yuan, or 'people's money,' are big obstacles blocking its global use. Still, Hong Kong already has stablecoin regulations and some Chinese experts are pushing for regulations to prepare for a possible stablecoin pegged to the yuan. Officials at the People's Bank of China and State Council Information Office in Beijing did not immediately respond to requests for comment on a Reuters report that the State Council, or Cabinet, is preparing to issue a plan for internationalizing the yuan that might include a yuan stablecoin. In the U.S., President Donald Trump has made cryptofriendly policies a priority for his administration. He signed a law, the GENIUS Act, last month regulating stablecoins. Stablecoins are digital currencies whose value is linked to a specific currency such as the U.S. dollar. They can be used as a substitute in situations where currency transactions might be difficult or costly. They are different from cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in that their only purpose is to be a means of payment, not an investment meant to be traded to gain value. Dollar stablecoins are typically bought and sold for $1 each. They are based on a reserve equal to their value, but are issued by private institutions, not central banks like the U.S. Federal Reserve. Stablecoins are not Digital Central Bank Currencies, which are digital versions of currencies issued by central banks. They are based on blockchain-based distributed ledgers. They are 'stable' in the sense that their value is anchored to the currency they are based on. Critics of stablecoins say that since they are essentially a proxy for ordinary currencies that can bypass banking systems and safeguards set up to manage traditional financial transactions they may be most useful for illegal purposes. China launched its own digital yuan, the e-CNY issued by its central bank, on a trial basis in 2019, and McDonalds was an early participant in that project. Chinese regulators have banned mining, trading and other dealings in private, decentralized digital currencies like Bitcoin, while encouraging use of the digital yuan. The nearly universal use of electronic payments has facilitated use of the e-CNY in the Chinese mainland, with some cities using it to pay wages of civil servants. State media reported that as of July 2024, there were 7.3 trillion yuan worth of transactions using the currency in areas where it is being used on a trial basis. China has also been promoting use of e-CNY in Africa, as it expands business dealings on the continent. But e-CNY are not stablecoins. Experts say regulations are needed to safely manage use of stablecoins and to ensure they could be used smoothly with bank accounts and payment systems. Hong Kong, a former British colony that has its own financial markets, currency and partly autonomous legal system, enacted a stablecoin law that took effect on Aug. 1. Aimed at attracting wealthy investors who want to use digital currencies and other financial products, it requires that a stablecoin linked to the Hong Kong dollar must be equal to the Hong Kong dollar reserves for that digital currency. As a global duty-free port and financial hub, Hong Kong has often served as a base for trying out paths toward liberalizing Chinese financial markets. But new regulations specifically governing yuan stablecoin would be needed if such a digital currency were issued for use in Hong Kong, Liu Xiaochun, deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of New Finance, recently wrote in a report on the Chinese financial website China's currency is not freely convertible in world financial markets and its stringent controls on foreign exchange are the biggest hindrance toward making the yuan a global currency, experts say. According to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT, as of June, the yuan was the sixth most active currency for global payments by value, with a share of 2.88%. Its use peaked in July 2024 at about 4.7%. It's used more often in trade financing, where it accounts for nearly 6% of such dealings, according to that report. The lion's share of yuan transactions take place in Hong Kong. The U.S. dollar's share as a global payment currency was over 47% as of June, followed by the euro, the British pound, the Canadian dollar and the Japanese yen, the report said.
The Hill
6 minutes ago
- The Hill
California AG on Trump National Guard deployment threat: ‘Absolute' violation of the law
California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) denounced President Trump's threat to deploy National Guard troops to help combat crime in California as an 'absolute' violation of the law. 'Absolute, complete, transparent, blatant, brazen violation of the law. The Posse Comitatus Act said you cannot use military to engage in civilian law enforcement on American soil. Period, full stop,' he told NewsNation's Blake Burman in an episode of 'The Hill.' 'Tackling crime is the very definition of civilian law enforcement,' he continued. 'He — the military would be involved in detentions, arrests, searches and seizures, in clear violation. So, he's already, he's saying he will break the law.' Bonta added, 'But that's consistent for him, he's broken it 39 times. That's how many times we sued him in 30 weeks.' Trump signaled last week he could attempt to widen his efforts to exert federal control to other Democratic-led cities after launching a crackdown in Washington, D.C., citing what he said was out-of-control crime and squalor. 'We have other cities also that are bad. Very bad. You look at Chicago, how bad it is. You look at Los Angeles, how bad it is,' Trump told reporters during a press conference, after boosting federal law enforcement in the nation's capital. 'New York has a problem. And then you have, of course Baltimore and Oakland, we don't even mention that anymore. They're so far gone. We're not going to lose our cities over this,' the president continued at the time. 'And this will go further. We're starting very strongly with D.C., and we're going to clean it up very quickly, as they say.' Despite the move, the district's records show that crime is at a 30-year low. The Justice Department launched a probe into the D.C. data earlier this week. Democrats, district residents and local officials have pushed back on the Trump administration's efforts, including the deployment of National Guard troops — some of them armed — across the district. Trump has also suggested he could work with Congress to extend the federal takeover past the 30 days allotted under the city's Home Rule Act. His latest threat on California comes after the president deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles earlier this year to quell protests of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) deportation raids.
Axios
6 minutes ago
- Axios
How Seattle's murder rate compares to cities nationwide
Seattle's homicide rate was above the national average last year but far lower than in many U.S. cities, according to FBI crime data. The big picture: Seattle's murder rate fell in 2024 — and the city didn't crack the top 100 for large-city homicide rates, an Axios analysis of the FBI data finds. Zoom in: Seattle police recorded 52 homicides in 2024 — a rate of 6.8 homicides per 100,000 residents. That's higher than the national average (5 per 100,000) but trailed many cities across Washington state and the country. By the numbers: Seattle's homicide rate ranked 121st among 316 U.S. cities with at least 100,000 people. Jackson, Mississippi, topped the list at nearly 78 homicides per 100,000 residents — more than 15 times the national average. Birmingham, Alabama, was second with almost 59 per 100,000, followed by St. Louis and Memphis, Tennessee. The fine print: Among cities with more than 500,000 people, Seattle's homicide rate ranked 25th out of 37. Several smaller Washington cities — including Lynnwood, North Bend, Yakima, Olympia and Spokane — also had higher homicide rates. Context: The U.S. murder rate in 2024 dropped to its lowest level since the Obama era, when violent crime hovered near 30-year lows. Yes, but: Even with Seattle's year-over-year decline, the 52 homicides logged citywide in 2024 were double the total in 2015 — outpacing population growth and fueling concern about long-term crime trends. Between the lines: President Trump has often suggested the nation's murder problem is particularly bad in blue cities such as New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. — Democratic-run cities in Democratic-led states (or district, in D.C.'s case).
