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
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS