Australian Navy in new controversy after warship sails through Taiwan Strait
Taiwan says an Australian warship had sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the sensitive and narrow waterway that separates the democratically governed island from China.
The US Navy has requested an Australian join an international task force in the Middle East. (Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Andre T. Richard/U.S. Navy via AP)
The ship, which it did not name, entered the strait on Thursday and sailed in a southerly direction, the ministry said on Friday.
Taiwan’s military kept watch throughout, the ministry said, without giving details.
The Australian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Euan Graham, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the Australian navy has previously transited through the Taiwan Strait but “choose not to publicise it”.
The sailing happens at a difficult time in Australia-China military relations even as the two countries seek to get ties back on track.
Last week, Canberra complained of an incident involving a Chinese warship and an Australian navy vessel in Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in which an Australian military diver was injured.
The US Navy sends ships through the strait around once a month in what it calls “routine” transits.
China regularly objects to these.
Taiwan has over the past four years complained of repeated Chinese military activity around the island, especially in the strait.
Taiwan, whose government rejects China’s sovereignty claims, is gearing up for presidential and parliamentary elections on January 13.
The Australian navy transits through the Taiwan Strait because it is the shortest route between the East China Sea and South China Sea, Graham said.
“It is just exercising international passage rights through that strait. It is not a contentious area of international law – it’s just that China chooses to make an issue out of it,” he said.
