China said on Thursday it was on “permanent high alert” the day after two military ships, one Canadian and one American, passed through the Taiwan Strait for the second time in two months.
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According to the US Navy, the USS Rafael Peralta, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, and the Canadian frigate HMCS Ottawa conducted a routine transit through the strait on Wednesday.
“The troops present remain on constant alert and will resolutely protect national sovereignty and security as well as regional peace and stability,” said Col. Shi Yi, spokesman for China’s Eastern Theater Command, in a news release. He called the latest passage “hype” and claimed that Chinese naval and air forces had “tracked their entire trajectory.”
The passage of these two ships came after two warships from the United States and Canada captured this narrow sea lane that separated the island from mainland China on September 9th.
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Washington and its Western allies have increased passage of warships through the strait as part of the “freedom of navigation” program to remind people that they are international waterways, which has raised the ire of Beijing.
The U.S. Seventh Fleet said in a statement that the transit was in accordance with international law and “through a corridor in the strait beyond the territorial sea of a coastal state.”
“Such cooperation is at the heart of our approach to a safe and prosperous region where aircraft and ships of all nations can fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows.”
Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Thursday it had monitored the passage overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, but reiterated that “the situation was normal”.
Beijing views Taiwan as a province that has not yet succeeded in reunification with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
Therefore, the Chinese government does not recognize the Taiwan Strait as part of international waters.
In September, China sent 103 aircraft around Taiwan in 24 hours, which Taipei called a “current record.”
Since President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016, Beijing has increased its threats and political and economic pressure on Taiwan.
Taiwan said it detected an unspecified number of Chinese fighter jets around the island at 0850 GMT on Thursday, 20 of which crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered its central air defense identification zones in the north and southwest.
The Chinese aircraft took part in a “joint combat patrol” with Chinese ships, Taiwan’s defense ministry said, stressing that it was monitoring the situation with its own air and naval forces and ground-based missile systems.