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
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
RSS