US, Canadian warships sail through Taiwan Strait in latest joint mission

BEIJING

US and Canadian warships sailed Saturday through the Taiwan Strait, according to the US Navy.

The US Navy's 7th Fleet said the USS Ralph Johnson guided-missile destroyer and Canada's HMCS Ottawa conducted a "routine" transit through waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law."

"Ralph Johnson and Ottawa's bilateral transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the commitment of the United States and our allies and partners to a free and open Indo-Pacific," it said in a statement.

The Eastern Theatre Command of China's People's Liberation Army said its forces monitored the ships and "handled" the situation in accordance with the law and regulations.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry said the ships sailed in a southerly direction and observed nothing unusual.

It marks the second joint mission this year after the US 7th Fleet’s destroyer USS Chung-Hoon and the Royal Canadian Navy's HMCS Montreal sailed through the Taiwan Strait on June 3 in a joint mission through the sensitive waterway that separates Taiwan from China.

Tensions have escalated as increased interactions between Taipei, the US and its allies have triggered angry responses from Beijing.

Beijing claims Taiwan, an island nation of 24 million, as a breakaway province. Taipei has insisted on its independence since 1949.

In recent months, the US has approved weapons and equipment packages for Taiwan worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and it ramped up diplomatic traffic to Taipei with regular trips by lawmakers and former officials.

China has repeatedly urged Washington to halt military and diplomatic engagement with Taiwan. It has also sanctioned American defense contractors for selling weapons to the island nation.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz in Ankara.