US and Canadian warships sail through the Taiwan Strait, prompting warning from China

ISTANBUL

The US and Canada sent warships through the Taiwan Strait, with China issuing a warning on Monday, claiming such actions “undermine” peace in the region.

According to the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet, which operates in the Asia-Pacific, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG 76) and the Royal Canadian Navy’s Halifax-class frigate HMCS Vancouver (FFH 331) carried a “routine. Transit of the Taiwan Strait on Sunday.

The U.S. 7th Fleet statement said the warships navigated a “high seas corridor in the strait outside the territorial waters of any coastal state.”

The trip was also described as a demonstration of the two nations’ “commitment” to “upholding freedom of navigation for all nations as a principle,” the statement said.

The US military rejected any “assertion of sovereignty or jurisdiction inconsistent with freedom of navigation, overflight and other lawful uses of the sea and air” and emphasized that the rights of the international community in the Taiwan Strait “shall not be limited’.

However, the Chinese military warned that the passage of the US and Canadian warships was “disrupting the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”

Li Xi, spokesperson for the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), stated that China is “on high alert at all times and resolutely safeguards national sovereignty and security, as well as regional peace and stability.”

Li added that the naval and air forces organized by the command “closely monitored and controlled the passage of the ships through the strait, and handled the situation in accordance with laws and regulations.”

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry also confirmed the voyage, saying the warships sailed from south to north through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday. Taiwan’s armed forces “maintained full control of the surrounding sea and airspace while the situation remained normal,” social media platform X said.

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