TAIPEI: An American and Canadian warship crossed the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, the US Navy said, during a rare joint mission to the sensitive waterway at a time of heightened tensions between Beijing and Washington over Chinese-claimed Taiwan.
The US Navy’s 7th Fleet said the guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon and the Canadian HMCS Montreal made a ‘routine’ transit of the strait ‘through waters where the freedoms of navigation and overflight on the high seas apply in accordance with international law”.
“Chung-Hoon and Montreal’s bilateral transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the commitment of the United States and our allies and partners to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he said in a statement. communicated.
While US warships pass through the strait about once a month, it is unusual for them to do so with those of other US allies.
The mission took place as US and Chinese defense chiefs were attending a major regional security summit in Singapore.
During this event, the United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin chastised China for refusing to hold military talks, leaving the superpowers deadlocked over Taiwan and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
There was no immediate response to the shipping by the Chinese military, which regularly denounces them as a US effort to stoke tensions.
The last publicly disclosed US-Canadian mission to the strait took place in September.
China has stepped up military and political pressure in an attempt to force Taiwan to accept Beijing’s sovereignty claims, which the Taipei government strongly rejects.
The US Navy’s 7th Fleet said the guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon and the Canadian HMCS Montreal made a ‘routine’ transit of the strait ‘through waters where the freedoms of navigation and overflight on the high seas apply in accordance with international law”.
“Chung-Hoon and Montreal’s bilateral transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the commitment of the United States and our allies and partners to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he said in a statement. communicated.
While US warships pass through the strait about once a month, it is unusual for them to do so with those of other US allies.
The mission took place as US and Chinese defense chiefs were attending a major regional security summit in Singapore.
During this event, the United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin chastised China for refusing to hold military talks, leaving the superpowers deadlocked over Taiwan and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
There was no immediate response to the shipping by the Chinese military, which regularly denounces them as a US effort to stoke tensions.
The last publicly disclosed US-Canadian mission to the strait took place in September.
China has stepped up military and political pressure in an attempt to force Taiwan to accept Beijing’s sovereignty claims, which the Taipei government strongly rejects.
