A US naval vessel transits the Taiwan Strait between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan

On Thursday, a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.

The USS Chung-transit Hoon’s launch, according to the US military, showed that the country was committed to a “free and open Indo-Pacific.” A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington said that the trip was meant to “flex muscles” and that the United States was “undermining peace and stability.” Last year, tensions in the Taiwan Strait skyrocketed.

After former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in August, China held its biggest military exercises ever around the island. China asserts that Taiwan is an integral part of its territory and vowed to unify it by any means necessary. Taiwan perceives itself as distinct from the mainland.

The Chinese military claimed to have monitored the transit of the USS Chung-Hoon. The nation will “protect its national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” according to the embassy’s spokesman. The ship is named in honor of Real Admiral Gordon Pai’ea Chung-Hoon, who served in the United States Navy during World War II.