US, Canadian warships sail through Taiwan Strait

Taipei: US and Canadian warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, almost a week after China held massive war games around Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory.

The destroyer USS Higgins and the Canadian frigate HMCS Vancouver made a “routine” transit of the Taiwan Strait meant to uphold the principle of freedom of navigation for all countries, read a statement on Monday by the US Navy’s 7th Fleet.

The US Navy, occasionally joined by ships from allied countries, regularly transits the sensitive waterway separating China from Taiwan. Germany sent two warships through the Taiwan Strait last month as it seeks to increase its defense engagement in the Asia-Pacific region. China condemned the joint US-Canada maneuver.

“The Taiwan issue is not about freedom of navigation but concerns China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said. “China firmly opposes any country provoking or threatening China’s sovereignty and security in the name of freedom of navigation.”

The Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command said the transit of the US and Canadian warships undermined peace and stability in the region, and that it had mobilised naval and air forces to monitor them “in accordance with the law”.

The ships navigated “through waters where high-seas freedom of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law”, read the US Navy 7th Fleet statement. “The international community’s navigational rights and freedoms in the Taiwan Strait should not be limited,” it added. Lin, asked about recent comments by US presidential candidate Donald Trump on Taiwan and China, said that Taiwan is a domestic issue “that allows no external interference” and that China opposes “any US individuals making an issue of China during the elections”.

Trump told the Wall Street Journal editorial board that he is confident that China wouldn’t invade Taiwan if he were to return to the White House.