7th Fleet Destroyer USS Higgins Transits Taiwan Strait with Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigate HMCS Vancouver (FFH 331)

At a time of increased military tension between Beijing and Taipei, a U.S. Navy vessel and a Canadian frigate made a routine transit over the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, according to the militaries of both countries.The transit was the second in a month by a U.S. Navy ship, and the second jointly by the United States and Canada in less than a year, since October 2021. While China condemned the mission, saying its forces "warned" the ships, recent years have seen U.S. warships, and occasionally those of allied nations such as Britain and Canada, routinely sail through the strait.Such trips anger China, which claims Taiwan over the island's democratically elected government's objections."This kind of cooperation is at the center of our approach to a secure and thriving area," the US Navy said in a statement.The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Higgins and the Royal Canadian Navy's Halifax-class frigate Vancouver transited the strait through a corridor beyond any coastal state's territorial sea, it added.Canadian Defence 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."Today's routine Taiwan Strait transit demonstrates our commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific," she said in a statement.Taiwan's foreign ministry welcomed the action."This operation though the Taiwan Strait is, even more, a concrete demonstration of the resolute opposition of democratic allies to China's expansion attempts," it said.Source:https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-canadian-warships-carry-out-taiwan-strait-transit-2022-09-20/