US Navy transits of Taiwan Strait drop under Trump

By Chen Cheng-liang and Jonathan Chin / Staff writers Add TT as Preferred Source US warships have transited the Taiwan Strait significantly less frequently during US President Donald Trump’s second term than during his first term, or during former US president Joe Biden’s time in office, the Heritage Foundation said in a study published on the US news Web site Breaking Defense on Friday last week.Allen Zhang, a researcher in the foundation’s Asian Studies Center, and Charity Ihrman, a member of its Young Leaders Program, said in the study that publicly available records project 14 transits for the entirely of Trump’s second term at the current rate.The projected figure for transits during Trump’s second term would be a 50 percent decline from 28 transits under his first term and a 56 perce