A US and a Canadian warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait yesterday, the US Navy said, marking the second such joint mission since June.
The US Navy’s 7th Fleet said the guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and Canada’s HMCS Ottawa conducted a “routine” transit “through waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law.”
“The ships transited through a corridor in the strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state,” the US Navy said in a statement.
Photo: Screen grab from USS Ralph Johnson’s Facebook page
“Ralph Johnson and Ottawa’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,” it said.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said the ships sailed in a southerly direction and that it had observed nothing unusual.
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command slammed the US and Canada for “trumpeting” the transit, adding the PLA was on guard and shadowed the ships throughout the transit.
Additional reporting by CNA
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