U.S., Canadian warships sail through Taiwan Strait, second in a year

A U.S. Navy warship and a Canadian frigate carried out a routine transit via the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, the U.S. and Canadian militaries said, an operation which comes amid heightened navy tensions between Beijing and Taipei.
China condemned the mission, saying its forces “warned” the ships.
In recent years, U.S. warships, and on event these from allied nations such as Britain and Canada, have routinely sailed thru the strait, drawing the ire of China, which claims Taiwan over the objections of the island’s democratically elected government.
In a statement, the U.S. Navy said its Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Higgins and the Royal Canadian Navy’s Halifax-class frigate Vancouver performed the transit thru a corridor in the strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state.
“Cooperation like this represents the centrepiece of our approach to a secure and prosperous region,” the Navy statement added.
Canada’s Defence Minister Anita Anand said that her country, as a Pacific nation, was deeply committed to upholding world stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
“Today’s routine Taiwan Strait transit demonstrates our commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific,” she said in a statement.
The Eastern Theatre Command of China’s People’s Liberation Army stated its forces monitored the ships and “warned them”.
“Theatre forces are usually on high alert, resolutely counter all threats and provocations, and resolutely protect country wide sovereignty and territorial integrity,” it said in a statement, the usage of the regular wording for its response to such missions.
Taiwan’s defence ministry stated the ships sailed north through the waterway and that its forces observed the mission however that “the scenario used to be as normal”.
It used to be the second transit of the strait in a month via a U.S. Navy ship, and the second joint transit by means of the United States and Canada in less than a year, the last one being in October, 2021.
A visit to Taiwan by means of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi in early August enraged China, which regards the island as its territory.
China as a result launched military drills near the island, which have continued though on a a whole lot decreased scale.
The slender Taiwan Strait has been a established source of army anxiety given that the defeated Republic of China authorities fled to Taiwan in 1949 after dropping a civil conflict with the communists, who mounted the People’s Republic of China.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG 76). (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Arthur Rosen)