The U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Canadian frigate HMCS Ottawa sailed through the Taiwan Strait yesterday, “in a challenge to China’s sweeping territorial claims,” reported The Associated Press. The ships “transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state,” the U.S. 7th Fleet said in a statement.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command followed and monitored U.S. and Canadian warships’ transit through the Taiwan Straits, Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesperson for the PLA Eastern Theater Command said afterwards, reported CGTN. He said the U.S. and Canada hyped up the transit of the two vessels through the Taiwan Straits, and warned that the theater command remains on high alert to resolutely safeguard China’s national sovereignty and security, and maintain regional peace and stability.
