(CNN) The United States sailed two ships through the Taiwan Strait, Sunday, in an operation that comes as top officials from the Trump administration prepare to travel to Beijing for high-level trade talks.

The US Navy destroyer, the USS Curtis Wilbur, and the US Coast Guard cutter, USCGC Bertholf, "conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit March 24-25 (local time) in accordance with international law," the Navy's Seventh fleet said in a statement.

"The ships' transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," Cdr. Clay Doss, a spokesman for the Navy's Seventh Fleet told CNN in a statement.

The US also sailed two ships through the strait in February and January.

The Aegis-class destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur sails November 18, 2001 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The Trump administration has sought to make the Taiwan Strait transits more routine, with the operations now taking place on a monthly basis. Prior to July, the transits occurred only about once a year.

Read More