TAIPEI/OTTAWA – A Canadian warship passed through the Taiwan Strait in what Ottawa called a commitment to an open Indo-Pacific, drawing a rebuke from China that the naval exercise on July 31 undermined peace.

       Canada’s Defence Ministry said the HMCS Montreal frigate had “recently conducted a routine transit” through the strait in what its defence minister said was a reaffirmation of Canada’s commitment to a “free, open and inclusive” Indo-Pacific region.

       “As outlined in our Indo-Pacific strategy, Canada is increasing the presence of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Indo-Pacific region,” National Defence Minister Bill Blair said, referring to Canada’s plan for the region announced in 2022.

       Mr Li Xi, a spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command, said the passage of the Canadian frigate on July 31 had “harassed and disrupted the situation and undermined peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”. China’s troops, he added, were on high alert at all times and “ready to respond to all threats and provocations”.

       China claims sovereignty over democratically governed Taiwan, and says it has jurisdiction over the nearly 180km-wide waterway dividing the two sides. Taiwan and the United States dispute that, saying the Taiwan Strait is an international waterway.

       US warships, and occasionally US Navy patrol aircraft, pass through the strait about once a month.

       Canadian naval vessels are less common, though in November 2023, the US destroyer USS Rafael Peralta and the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Ottawa conducted a joint transit through the strait.

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       In June 2023, during another joint US-Canada drill in the strait, a Chinese warship came within 137m of a US destroyer in what the Pentagon called “an unsafe manner”.

       Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said in a statement on Aug 1 that the island’s military had “full control” over the surrounding sea and airspace during the Canadian frigate’s transit from north to south through the strait, and that the situation was normal. REUTERS