China’s military said it dispatched naval and air forces to shadow Canadian and Australian warships that transited the Taiwan Strait over the weekend, denouncing the passage as “provocations.”
Why It Matters
Beijing’s Communist Party government claims sovereignty over the strait by virtue of its claim to democratic Taiwan, despite never having ruled the island. Taipei, Washington and many other governments regard the waterway—less than 100 miles wide at its narrowest—as international waters.
The United States—and increasingly Australia, Canada, and other allies with a naval presence in the region—have been carrying out multiple transits through the strait for years in a challenge to Beijing’s position, which they view as incompatible with freedom of navigation under international law.
Newsweek reached out to Canadian and Australian departments of defense via e-mailed requests for comment.
What To Know
Shi Yi, spokesperson for the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement late on Saturday the transits amounted to “disturbances and provocations.”
“The actions of the Canadian and Australian sides send the wrong signals and increase security risks,” Shi said. He claimed that, upon detecting their presence, the Eastern Theater Command deployed air and naval assets to monitor the ships for the duration of their passage.
A spokesperson for Australia’s defense department confirmed the transit of Canadian Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ville de Québec and Australian Hobart-class guided-missile destroyer HMAS Brisbane. The spokesperson told Reuters it took place Saturday and Sunday “in accordance with international law.”
The Brisbane is on a “regional presence deployment to the Indo-Pacific region,” the spokesperson added, saying the transit was consistent with international law, “particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.”
Early Monday, the Canadian Joint Operations Command echoed Australia’s statement, adding: “Canada supports a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Both warships had taken part in joint exercises with the Philippines last week. Manila, a U.S. defense treaty ally, is locked in a long-running territorial dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea over China’s expansive moves into the Philippines’ maritime zone.
A spokesperson for the Armed Forces of the Philippines told Newsweek a Chinese destroyer and frigate had been observed apparently monitoring the drills from a distance.
What Happens Next
For the near term, U.S. and allied transits are expected to continue amid flaring cross-strait tensions.
China has, in recent years, been ratcheting up pressure on Taiwan through near-daily sorties across the midline of the strait and large-scale military exercises aiming to punish the Beijing-skeptic Democratic Progressive Party government in Taipei.
China has pledged unification with Taiwan is inevitable and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve this goal.
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