Chinese navy transits Taiwan Strait to "monitor and warn" US, Canadian warships

Chinese forces shadowed American and Canadian warships as they transited the Taiwan Strait together earlier this week, a military spokesperson said on September 21.

USS Higgins, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer of the US Navy, and HMCS Vancouver, a Halifax-class frigate of the Royal Canadian Navy, crossed the strait on September 20, the allies confirmed in separate statements, Newsweek informs.

Colonel Shi Yi, a spokesperson for the Chinese People's Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command, said naval and air forces had been dispatched to "monitor and warn" the vessels.

"Theater command forces remain on high alert at all times to resolutely counter all threats and provocations, and resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity," said Shi.

Duan, an open-source intelligence researcher, identified at least two Chinese warships monitoring the allied transit from the China side of the median line, and two to three possible Taiwanese vessels on the Taiwan side.

Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Pat Ryder told reporters on Tuesday that he wasn't aware of "any incidents or unsafe behaviour in the vicinity of the Taiwan Strait" during the transit.

China claims Taiwan as its own and has vowed to seize control of the island one day, preferably peacefully but by force if necessary. Western capitals—Washington in particular—are watching the region as Taipei pledges to defend itself against Beijing, despite the ever-widening power gap between the cross-strait neighbours.

In a brief statement on September 21, Taiwan's defence ministry confirmed the American and Canadian ships had transited the strait in a northerly direction.

Its foreign ministry welcomed the allied presence to push back against China's "ambition to undermine the status quo in the Taiwan Strait."