Warship the United States of America (United States) and Canada navigate the waters Taiwan Strait amid growing tensions between Beijing and Taipei. The so-called routine transit has drawn criticism from the government China.
As reported Reuters, Wednesday (21/9/2022), in recent years, warships from the United States, and sometimes from allied countries such as Britain and Canada, have regularly sailed the waters of the Taiwan Strait. This activity has angered China, which insists on claiming Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory.
The US Navy said in a statement that the USS Higgins, a US Arleigh Burke-class cruise missile destroyer and HMCS Vancouver, a Canadian Halifax-class frigate, transited the Taiwan Strait corridor outside the territorial waters of any country.
“Cooperation like this is central to our approach to a safe and prosperous region,” the Navy said in a statement.
Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said separately that her country, as a Pacific nation, is firmly committed to maintaining global stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
“Today’s steady transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates our commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific,” Anand said in a statement.
There was a strong reaction from China, with the Eastern Area Command of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) saying its forces were monitoring the movements of foreign warships and “alerting” them.
“The troops are always on high alert, resolutely resisting all threats and provocations, and resolutely defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the PLA’s Eastern Zone Command said in a statement.
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