The United States (US) Navy’s Seventh Fleet announced that its Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins had “conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit” on Tuesday with the Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigate HMCS Vancouver.
It affirmed in a statement that it had sailed “through waters where high seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law.”
On the way to the East China Sea to begin #OpNEON, HMCS Vancouver, together with USS Higgins, transited through the Taiwan Strait. Together with our partners in the region, the United States and Canada operate for a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Indo-Pacific.#CanadaUS pic.twitter.com/Q4hYmSbHjJ
— Canadian Armed Forces Operations (@CFOperations) September 20, 2022
In a reference to Chinese claims of control over the region, the US Navy’s statement also specified that the ships “transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal State.” It also underscored that the ships’ transit through the Strait demonstrated the commitment of the US, as well as of its allies, to secure “a free and open Indo-Pacific.” “Cooperation like this represents the centrepiece of our approach to a secure and prosperous region,” the statement concluded.
The Eastern Theatre Command of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) condemned the joint mission, saying its forces had “warned” the ships. Senior Colonel Shi Yi said in a statement on Wednesday that the PLA had scrambled its air and naval forces “to track and monitor the US and Canadian warships in the whole course.” He also stressed that the military is “on high alert at all times to resolutely counter any threat and provocation, and safeguard China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Suspected Tracks of USS Higgins Contucting Taiwan Strait Transit pic.twitter.com/9mhJjVP45d
— SCS Probing Initiative (@SCS_PI) September 21, 2022
In fact, Beijing has frequently criticised Washington for its maritime “provocations” in the past. For instance, in August, PLA spokesperson Shi Yi warned at the time that China is “prepared to crackdown any provocation anytime” after US Navy warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
The US Navy has consistently argued that “under international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention, the ships of all states, including their warships, enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea.” On this basis, the US Navy frequently carries out such missions in the region to challenge Chinese territorial claims.
The @USNavy's @USSHIGGINS, in cooperation with the @RoyalCanNavy's HMCS Vancouver (FFH 331), conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit Sept. 20 (local time).#FreeandOpenIndoPacific #InternationalbyDesign
— 7th Fleet (@US7thFleet) September 20, 2022
Read the official statement here:https://t.co/QM7YUZmXwF pic.twitter.com/xRG8CEGuEX
The latest transit comes against the backdrop of the deputy director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), David Cohen, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping wants the PLA to be prepared to invade Taiwan by 2027.
Further fanning the flames of tensions in the region, in an interview with “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley last Thursday, US President Joe Biden reaffirmed that US troops would defend Taiwan in the event of an “ unprecedented attack” by China. When Pelley requested clarification by asking if “unlike Ukraine…US forces, US men and women would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion?,” Biden replied: “Yes.”