A US and a Canadian warship on Sunday sailed through the Taiwan Strait together less than a week after China conducted a new round of war games around Taiwan.
The US Navy’s 7th Fleet yesterday said that the destroyer USS Higgins and the Canadian frigate HMCS Vancouver made a “routine” transit on Sunday “through waters where high-seas freedom of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law.”
The transit demonstrated the US’ and Canada’s commitment to upholding freedom of navigation for all nations, it said in a statement.
Photo: Mass Communications Specialist 3rd Class Trevor Hale / US Navy via AP
“The international community’s navigational rights and freedoms in the Taiwan Strait should not be limited. The United States rejects any assertion of sovereignty or jurisdiction that is inconsistent with freedoms of navigations, overflight, and other lawful uses of the sea and air,” it said.
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said that the US and Canadian ships sailed in a northerly direction and the armed forces kept watch, adding that the situation was “as normal.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said that freedom of navigation fits not only the national interest, but also the common interest of the Indo-Pacific region.
China’s People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command spokesperson Li Xi (李熹) characterized the transit as “disruptive to the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.”
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian (林劍) said Taiwan was not a matter of “freedom of navigation,” but of China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
“China firmly opposes any country provoking and threatening China’s sovereignty and security in the name of ‘freedom of navigation,’” Lin added.
China staged the war games on Monday last week that it said were a warning to “separatist acts” and which drew condemnation from the Taiwanese and US governments.
The US and Canadian navies last sailed such a joint mission in November last year, while the US last transited the Taiwan Strait on Aug. 22 when the USS Ralph Johnson passed through.
Additional reporting by Huang Ching-hsuan and CNA
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow yesterday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces.” The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head
‘POLITICAL GAME’: DPP lawmakers said the motion would not meet the legislative threshold needed, and accused the KMT and the TPP of trivializing the Constitution The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved a motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against President William Lai (賴清德), saying he had undermined Taiwan’s constitutional order and democracy. The motion was approved 61-50 by lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who together hold a legislative majority. Under the motion, a roll call vote for impeachment would be held on May 19 next year, after various hearings are held and Lai is given the chance to defend himself. The move came after Lai on Monday last week did not promulgate an amendment passed by the legislature that
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
RSS