The Chinese military has condemned the passage of Canadian and Australian warships through the Taiwan Strait, calling it a provocation.
China considers Taiwan – self-ruled since 1949 when nationalist forces retreated after losing the Chinese Civil War – as part of its territory under the One-China principle.
It also claims the strait as its own. While neither Canada nor Australia formally recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state, many, including the US, Canada, the UK, France, and Australia, view the strait as an international channel and conduct regular transits.
The Canadian frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec and the Australian destroyer HMAS Brisbane entered the strait early Saturday, a day after Beijing accused both nations of stoking tensions with military drills in the South China Sea.
China said its forces tracked and warned the vessels, describing the operation as “trouble-making and provocation.”
“The actions of the Canadians and Australians send the wrong signals and increase security risks,” the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command said on Sunday.
An Australian Defense Department spokesperson said Brisbane made a “routine transit” with the Canadian ship from September 6 to 7. “Australian vessels and aircraft will continue to exercise freedom of navigation and uphold international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” the spokesperson added.
Canadian Joint Operations Command declined to comment on the transit, saying the Ville de Quebec was deployed on Operation Horizon, Canada’s Indo-Pacific mission aimed at promoting “peace and stability.”
Earlier this week, the frigate also joined what Canada and its partners described as freedom-of-navigation drills off the Philippines with Australia, the US, and local forces. Beijing rejected this, denouncing the exercise and accusing Manila of colluding with Western powers to undermine regional stability.
The Taiwan Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, remains a vital corridor for global trade and a flashpoint between China and Western navies. Earlier this year, another Canadian frigate, HMCS Montreal, also transited the strait in what Ottawa called a routine passage. The Chinese military at the time vowed to “resolutely take countermeasures against any threats or provocations.”
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