A US destroyer and a Canadian frigate sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday in a new joint operation aimed at bolstering the route’s status as an international waterway. The USS Higgins, an American destroyer as well as the Canadian frigate HMCS Vancouver “conducted a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait on September 20 (…) in accordance with international law”, declared the 7th Fleet of the American Navy. “The ship transited through a corridor of the strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state. »
Canada said HMCS Vancouver was on its way to join an ongoing mission to enforce UN sanctions once morest North Korea when it transited with USS Higgins.
“Today’s routine transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates our commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific (region),” Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said in a statement. Asked by state broadcaster CCTV, a spokesperson for the Chinese military’s Eastern Command called the transit “media hype”, saying Chinese troops were “still on heightened alert” to “defend sovereignty national and territorial integrity”.
A transit that comes the day following Joe Biden’s statements
Beijing believes that Taiwan is part of its territory and that the strait that separates the island from mainland China, and which is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, belongs to it. The United States has long used “freedom of navigation” to navigate through this strait and counter Chinese claims. Western allies are increasingly joining these operations.
