Taipei City
\nA US Navy warship and a Canadian frigate made a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, the militaries of both nations said, at a time of heightened military tension between Beijing and Taipei.
\nThe transit was the second in a month by a US Navy ship, and the second jointly by the United States and Canada in less than a year, since October 2021.
\nWhile China condemned the mission, saying its forces \u201cwarned\u201d the ships, recent years have seen US warships, and occasionally those of allied nations such as Britain and Canada, routinely sail through the strait.
\nSuch trips anger China, which claims Taiwan over the objections of the island\u2019s democratically elected government.
\n\u201cCooperation like this represents the centerpiece of our approach to a secure and prosperous region,\u201d the US Navy said in a statement.
\nThe Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Higgins and the Royal Canadian Navy\u2019s Halifax-class frigate Vancouver made the transit through a corridor in the strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state, it added.
\nCanadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said that as a Pacific nation, her country was deeply committed to upholding global stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
\n\u201cToday\u2019s routine Taiwan Strait transit demonstrates our commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific,\u201d she said in a statement.
\nTaiwan\u2019s foreign ministry welcomed the action.
\n\u201cThis operation though the Taiwan Strait is, even more, a concrete demonstration of the resolute opposition of democratic allies to China\u2019s expansion attempts,\u201d it said.
\nThe Eastern Theatre Command of China\u2019s People\u2019s Liberation Army said its forces monitored the ships and \u201cwarned them.\u201d
\n\u201cTheatre forces are always on high alert, resolutely counter all threats and provocations, and resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,\u201d it said in a statement, employing its usual phrasing for such responses.
\nTaiwan\u2019s defense ministry said the ships sailed north through the waterway and its forces observed the mission but \u201cthe situation was as normal.\u201d
\nA visit to Taiwan early in August by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi enraged China, which subsequently launched military drills near the island that have continued, although on a much reduced scale.
\nThe narrow Taiwan Strait has been a frequent source of military tension since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the communists, who established the People\u2019s Republic of China.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Taipei City A US Navy warship and a Canadian frigate made a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, the militaries of both nations said, at a time of heightened military tension between Beijing and Taipei. The transit was the second in a month by a US Navy ship, and the second jointly by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-284836","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n