The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on Wednesday made its first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait in response to the intrusion by a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft into Japan’s sovereign airspace last month, Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday.
The Japanese news platform reported that the destroyer JS Sazanamisailed down through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, citing sources in the Japanese government with knowledge of the matter.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment on the reports at a regular briefing because they concern military operations.
Photo courtesy of the Japanese Ministry of Defense
Military vessels from New Zealand and Australia also sailed through the Strait on the same day, Wellington’s defense ministry said yesterday.
One of its ships, the HMNZS Aotearoa, made its first passage through the Taiwan Strait in seven years, alongside the Australian guided missile destroyer HMAS Sydney to assert the “right of freedom of navigation,” a defense source said.
The official added that the mission was not conducted with Japan.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The three nations were scheduled to engage in a joint military exercise in the South China Sea yesterday, Japanese media reported.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ordered the transit as a response to the incursion last month by a Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Y-9 reconnaissance aircraft into Japanese airspace after consulting with his Cabinet, the report said.
The Chinese aircraft entered Japan’s airspace at 11:29am on Aug. 26 from east of the Danjo Islands and left the area at 11:31am.
On Wednesday last week, the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning and two other PLA ships entered Japan’s contiguous zone while sailing through the area between Japan-governed Yonaguni Island and Iriomote Island.
Bec Strating, professor of international relations at La Trobe University, said Japan’s reported Taiwan Strait transit “is part of a broader pattern of greater naval presence by countries in and beyond Asia that are concerned about China’s maritime assertions.”
“Japan in particular has been dealing with China’s ‘gray zone’ tactics in the East China Sea,” including an increasing number of coast guard vessels sailing close to disputed islands in the region, she said.
The US and Canada have sailed through the Taiwan Strait numerous times before.
On Sept. 13, a German frigate and a supply ship sailed through the Taiwan Strait en route to Jakarta, marking the first such transit in 22 years.
It was followed on Tuesday last week by the passage of a US P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft through the Strait.
The next day, China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier sailed through the waters northeast of Taiwan, followed by the incursion on Monday of a Russian Il-38 patrol aircraft near Japan’s Hokkaido.
Additional reporting by Aaron Tu
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
AIR ALERT: China’s reservation of airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea could be an attempt to test the US’ response ahead of a Trump-Xi meeting, the NSB head said China’s attempts to infiltrate Taiwan are systematic, planned and targeted, with activity shifting from recruiting mid-level military officers to rank-and-file enlisted personnel, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) integrates national security, intelligence operations and “united front” efforts into a dense network to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage in Taiwan, Tsai said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. It uses specific networks to screen targets through exchange activities and recruiting local collaborators to establish intelligence-gathering organizations, he said. China is also shifting who it targets to lower-ranking military personnel,
RSS