Taiwan saw 24 Chinese military aircraft, including fighter jets and drones, in the region surrounding the island on Sunday while a Canadian warship passed through the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence reported.
The Chinese aircraft conducted “joint combat readiness patrols” with naval vessels close to Taiwan, the ministry added. Meanwhile, the Chinese vessels hailed the Canadian frigate HMCS Ottawa and ordered it to alter its course, Taiwanese media reported. The Halifax-class frigate is the initial of the Canadian warships this year that transited the strait following two recent American ship passages.
US and its allies regularly sail through the 112-mile (180-kilometer) waterway to reaffirm its status as an international waterway, a move that has repeatedly irritated China. Beijing’s military criticized the latest US transit as a provocative act that “sent the wrong signal and increased security risks.”
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry announced that it had counted 62 Chinese fighter aircraft closing in on the island within the past 48 hours, in tandem with the passage of the American warships.
The latest US transit was the first since US President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January. It followed a joint statement by Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in which both leaders reiterated their opposition to any unilateral attempt to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait through force or coercion.
