According to the ministry, the ship entered the strait on Thursday and was moving in a southerly direction.
“While sailing through the strait, the Taiwanese military monitored the situation at sea and in the airspace (…), the situation was normal,” according to a statement released by the ministry.
The 180-kilometer-long strait is an important shipping route, but it is also a hotbed of geopolitical disputes for Beijing, which claims democratic Taiwan as its territory.
Taiwan’s forces have reported near-daily reports of ships sighted in its waters and flights of Chinese warplanes into its air defense zone.
Recently, the US has regularly sent warships to the Taiwan Strait. In recent years, warships from the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia have also passed through it. This provokes Beijing’s indignation.
The Australian frigate HMAS Toowoomba passed through the strait on Thursday, crossing international waters on a regional mission.
Earlier this month, HMAS Toowoomba entered waters off the coast of Japan in support of United Nations sanctions on Tokyo’s exclusive economic zone.
Last week, Australia’s defense minister said HMAS Toowoomba divers were injured during the mission, possibly by sonar pulses from one of the Beijing warships.
China called the accusations reckless and irresponsible. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese emphasized that the Beijing warship behaved dangerously and unprofessionally at sea.
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2024-09-03 04:29:09