HMCS Ottawa, a Canadian frigate with a crew of around 240, sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, eliciting praise from Taipei and criticism from Beijing, in what was the sixth transit of the strait by a Canadian vessel since the launch of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy in 2022.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said that “Canada has once again taken concrete actions to defend the freedom, peace and openness of the Taiwan Strait,” adding that the strait is not within the scope of China’s sovereignty. Beijing stated that Canada “undermined the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.”
The U.S. was also involved in this latest war of words, which spread from waterways to webpages. Last week, to Beijing’s chagrin, the U.S. State Department updated a Taiwan ‘fact sheet’ on its website and removed the following sentence: “We do not support Taiwan independence.”
The commander of Washington’s Indo-Pacific Command posited last week that Beijing's military “exercises” around Taiwan are, in fact, “rehearsals” for a Chinese blockade or invasion of the island.
An American destroyer and survey vessel transited the Taiwan Strait four days before HMCS Ottawa.
Sparring in the South China Sea
Canadian defence minister Bill Blair said last year that transits through the Taiwan Strait are “an important part of our efforts to counter China’s growing influence in the region and globally.”
Canadian partners in the region are now contending with that influence: last week in the South China Sea, a Chinese fighter shot flares within 30 metres of an Australian patrol aircraft. Canberra called the manoeuvre "unsafe and unprofessional." On Thursday, three Chinese naval vessels were spotted 150 nautical miles east of Sydney, in a mission that Australia’s defence minister called “unusual,” but in line with international law.
The Philippines is also bristling at Beijing. At a panel discussion in Munich last week, the Philippines’ secretary of foreign affairs accused China of ignoring the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
