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
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
Foreign ministers of leading Western democracies sought to show a united front in Canada yesterday after seven weeks of rising tensions between US allies and US President Donald Trump over his upending of foreign policy on Ukraine and imposing of tariffs. The G7 ministers from the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US, along with the EU, convened in the remote tourist town of La Malbaie, nestled in the Quebec hills, for two days of meetings that in the past have broadly been consensual on the issues they face. Top of the agenda for Washington’s partners would be getting a
RSS