Japanese vessel joins Australia and New Zealand in its first Taiwan Strait transit

A Japanese destroyer sailed through the stretch of water between the island and the Chinese mainland on Wednesday morning

Reading Time:2 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

99+

The Japanese destroyer Sazanami. Photo: AFP

William Zheng

Published: 10:33am, 26 Sep 2024Updated: 6:25pm, 26 Sep 2024

A Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force vessel sailed through the Taiwan Strait for the first time on Wednesday, Japanese media reported. The move is likely to anger Beijing.

The Japanese destroyer Sazanami “conducted the transit” in the company of vessels from the Australian and New Zealand navies through the narrow waterway between mainland China and the island of Taiwan, according to the Kyodo news agency.

They were believed to be heading to the South China Sea for exercises, the Kyodo report said.

00:45

Japan military vessel's first transit through Taiwan Strait angers Beijing

The US regularly sends warships through the Taiwan Strait in “freedom of navigation” exercises and its allies – including Britain and Australia – have also been making the transit in recent years, drawing Beijing’s ire.

Wednesday’s transit was the first confirmed journey through the Taiwan Strait by a Japanese naval vessel.

China’s Global Times, a popular nationalistic tabloid, also reported on Thursday that the Sazanami passed through the strait, along with the Australian destroyer Sydney and the New Zealand supply ship Aotearoa.

“The [People’s Liberation Army] followed and monitored them throughout the process and the situation was under control,” the Global Times reported, quoting unnamed sources.

Beijing regards Taiwan as part of China, to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise the island as independent, but are opposed to any attempt to reunify the island by force.