An Australian warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait, an Australian government source said yesterday, in the latest transit of the sensitive sea lane by a US ally, which Chinese state-backed media said was tracked and monitored by the Chinese military.
Beijing views the narrow, highly strategic strait as Chinese territorial waters and has responded aggressively on occasion to foreign navies sailing there.
The HMAS Toowoomba an Anzac-class frigate, “conducted a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait on Friday and Saturday as part of a Regional Presence Deployment in the Indo-Pacific region,” the source said.
Photo: Reuters
“All interactions with foreign ships and aircraft were safe and professional,” the source said.
China’s state-run Global Times, citing an unnamed Chinese military source, reported late on Saturday that “the Chinese People’s Liberation Army [PLA] carried out full-process tracking, monitoring and alert operations throughout the transit.”
US warships traverse the Strait every few months, drawing censure from Beijing, and some US associates, such as France, Australia, the UK and Canada, have occasionally transited the Strait.
China has increased its military presence around Taiwan and staged its latest major exercises around the nation in late December last year.
The Ministry of National Defense said in a statement yesterday that it closely monitors the skies and waters around Taiwan and that the Taiwan Strait is an international waterway for which all countries enjoy the right of freedom of navigation.
“The Ministry of National Defense will not proactively disclose the movements of aircraft and ships of friendly allied countries,” it added, without elaborating.
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