On Saturday, the US Indo-Pacific Command (PACOM) said the Chinese military ship PRC LY 132 came within 150 yards of the USS Chung-Hoon destroyer during a joint Canada-US exercise in the Taiwan Strait, when the ships crossed the strait.
"This is just part again of a growing aggressiveness by the PRC [People's Republic of China] that we're dealing with and we're prepared to address it....we're going to continue to keep the lines open with the Chinese to make it clear how unacceptable those particular intercepts are," Kirby said during a press briefing.
In late May, PACOM said a Chinese J-16 fighter jet performed an "'unnecessarily aggressive maneuver" while intercepting a US Air Force RC-135 aircraft over the South China Sea.
Tensions over Taiwan significantly increased last August after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Taipei despite Beijing's warnings against such a visit. China condemned Pelosi's trip, which it regarded as a gesture of support for separatism, and launched large-scale military exercises in the vicinity of the island.
Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan maintains it is an autonomous country but stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign states with Taipei and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.