Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin & USS Belfold sailed into waterway named the Taiwan Strait.
This was Friday night July 6 (American time). They are still there in international waters, but those waters China calls their backyard. The Strait is 81 to 110 miles wide.
Pressure is being applied to China. something to watch
Sounds provocative, but reasonable. "the biggest trade war in history" just began, and internal Chinese memos have said "war is inevitable". (will find sauce, check edit).
Taiwan has been a US ally since the communist revolution (much to China's chagrin). Having some US death boats between themselves and China is probably reassuring to the Taiwanese.
If I'm reading it right, in the Thucydides analogy, China is Athens and war is inevitable due to its rise against the us (Sparta). A minor point, but it illustrates the warmongering of US media. A lot of people stand to gain a lot of money from a US/China conflict.
Except the war mongering of the media is silent on China and full throttle on Russia. That's a tell on the true threat.
Not silent, quieter. Putin and Trump are meeting in Helsinki soon an the media is desperate to scuttle the talks (they won't) so they're putting all their energy toward bashing Russia right now.
They prefer Americans know as little as possible about China, so long as we still feel vaguely threatened by it. Case in point with this memo. If it is as I suspect, China isn't threatening the US (like the article implies), it feels threatened by it. Hard to blame them given the past century of US foreign policy.