A Japanese warship cruised through the Taiwan Strait for the first time to assert its freedom of navigation, local media said Thursday, a week after a Chinese aircraft carrier sailed between two Japanese islands near Taiwan.
Japan’s top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment on the reports at a regular briefing because they concern military operations.
The United States and its allies are increasingly crossing the 180-kilometer (112-mile) Taiwan Strait to reinforce its status as an international waterway, angering China.
The Sazanami destroyer made the unprecedented passage on Wednesday, several Japanese media outlets said.
Military vessels from New Zealand and Australia also sailed through the fiercely contested waterway on the same day, Wellington’s defense ministry said on Thursday.
A defense official told AFP that one of its ships made its first passage through the Taiwan Strait in seven years, alongside an Australian guided missile destroyer, to assert the “right of freedom of navigation.”
The official added that the mission was not conducted with Japan.
Japanese media said the three nations planned to conduct military drills in the contested South China Sea.
Last week, China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier sailed between two Japanese islands near Taiwan for the first time, accompanied by two destroyers.
The ships entered Japan’s contiguous zone — an area up to 24 nautical miles from the country’s coast — Tokyo said, calling the incident “totally unacceptable.” China said it had complied with international law.
It followed the first confirmed incursion into Japanese airspace by a Chinese surveillance aircraft in August.
The Yomiuri Shimbun daily cited unnamed government sources as saying Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had instructed Wednesday’s Taiwan Strait journey over concern that doing nothing following China’s intrusions could encourage Beijing to take more assertive actions.
Beijing views Taiwan as a renegade province and claims jurisdiction over the body of water that separates the island from China.
However, the United States and many other countries argue their voyages are usual, citing freedom of navigation.
