Japanese defense forces ship sails through Taiwan Strait for first time

A Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force ship crossed the Taiwan Strait for the first time on the orders of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Kyodo News reported, prompting an immediate reaction from China.

On Wednesday, the destroyer Sazanami, along with Australian and New Zealand ships, headed south from the East China Sea and passed through the narrow waterway between China and Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China claims as its own territory, the sources said.

The ships are believed to have been heading to the South China Sea for an exercise apparently aimed at challenging Beijing’s growing military assertiveness in the region.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment on the issue, saying it is “a matter related to the operations of the Self-Defense Forces.” A government source stated that Tokyo does not intend to unnecessarily provoke Beijing by referring to the passage.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Thursday that Beijing has protested to Tokyo about the passage of the Japanese ship, adding that China is “very attentive to the political intentions” of the neighboring country’s measure.

“We urge Japan to fulfill its promises on the Taiwan issue, to be cautious in words and deeds, and not to disturb Sino-Japanese relations as well as peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” Lin said. The Chinese military treated the passage “in accordance with the laws,” he added.

General Yoshihide Yoshida, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Ministry of Defense, declared at a press conference that the increase in Chinese military activities in the Indo-Pacific region is a “deep concern” not only for Japan, but also for the community. international.

“We will continue to monitor (China’s) activities, collect information and analyze it to improve surveillance,” Yoshida said without directly referring to the MSDF ship’s passage through the Taiwan Strait.

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The United States regularly sends warships through the Taiwan Strait to enforce freedom of navigation in international waters. Allies such as Britain have also carried out such transits, and the German navy recently sent its first warship through the Taiwan Strait in 22 years, drawing the ire of China.

The Sazanami, based in Kure (Hiroshima Prefecture), is about 150 meters long and 17 meters wide, and can accommodate a crew of 170 people.

China has increased its military activities around Japan, and in late August a spy plane violated Japanese airspace near islands in Nagasaki prefecture.

On September 18, Liaoning became the first Chinese aircraft carrier to enter the zone contiguous to Japanese territorial waters, sailing between remote islands in southern Japan from the East China Sea.

Taiwan is seen as a potential military flashpoint in US-China relations, as Beijing views the island as a renegade province that must be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

China and Taiwan have been governed separately since they separated in 1949 following a civil war.

Tensions have been rising in recent years, with Chinese military aircraft frequently crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait, a border that Beijing and Taipei had tacitly respected for decades.