A U.S. Coast Guard ship conducted a solo sailing of the Taiwan Strait earlier this week, the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said in a statement Thursday, with China criticizing the U.S. side for its alleged hyping of the transit.

The U.S. Coast Guard’s national security cutter Stratton made a "routine Taiwan Strait transit” on Tuesday “through waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law,” the 7th Fleet said in a statement.

The rare solo passage of a U.S. Coast Guard vessel through the politically sensitive, 180-kilometer strait that separates China from Taiwan, came just a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken became the first top American diplomat to visit the Middle Kingdom in nearly five years.

The 7th Fleet said the ship had transited through a corridor in the strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state.

“Stratton’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” it added. “The United States military flies, sails and operates anywhere international law allows.”

In what was believed to be the first time for the China Coast Guard to respond to a sailing through the strait by a foreign naval vessel, it said Chinese ships had monitored and followed the U.S. ship the entire time, vowing to “resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and maritime rights and interests.”

China’s Defense Ministry has typically responded to foreign military sailings through the strait.

Coming on the heels of Blinken’s visit, the U.S. Coast Guard sailing was sure to raise questions in some corners of Beijing over Washington’s sincerity after the two sides agreed to stabilize ties.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping met Blinken in Beijing on Monday, with Xi stressing that “state-to-state interactions should always be based on mutual respect and sincerity.”

China regards democratic Taiwan as a renegade province that must be unified with the mainland — by force, if necessary.

Although the U.S. does not have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, it is bound by law to provide the democratic island with arms to defend itself. In a separate meeting with Blinken on Monday, top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi had strong words on the Taiwan issue, emphasizing that “safeguarding national unity will always be the core of China's core interests.”

News of the sailing through the strait came after U.S. President Joe Biden labeled Xi a “dictator,” drawing a stern condemnation from China, which called the comments “extremely absurd and irresponsible.”