America’s Jr Partners, Canada & Australia, Flex With Warships In Taiwan Strait 

Two warships from Canada and Australia sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, and were closely monitored by the China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), according to an announcement by Chinese state media.

State-run Global Times identified that the Canadian frigate Ville de Quebec and the Australian guided-missile destroyer Brisbane were the vessels that made the provocative transit.

“On September 6, the Canadian frigate ‘Quebec’ and the Australian destroyer ‘Brisbane’ transited the Taiwan Strait, causing trouble and provoking,” a statement from the the Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said.

“The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) maintained full surveillance and monitoring throughout the transit, with the situation fully under control,” it said further, at a moment the Australian and Canadian militaries withheld any initial comment.

Typically it is the US military which leads these kind of semi-routine “freedom of navigation” passages, even as the last several years have seen the Chinese military step up war games and patrols around Taiwan and in the contested strait.

But increasingly these junior partners of the US have sought to step up and flex their muscles. But one wonders why Canada, with a comparably weak military (to China’s) would be impelled to sail half a world away through waters which Beijing sees as its domain.

The Chinese PLA military has additionally stated of this latest Taiwan Strait transit, “The actions of the Canadians and Australians send the wrong signals and increase security risks.”

Beijing condemned the move as “causing trouble”. Additionally, “(Chinese) troops remain on high alert at all times, resolutely safeguarding national sovereignty and security and regional peace and stability,” it added.

Back in February, when US warships transited the strait for the first time after Trump starting his second term in office, the PLA had warned, “Troops in the theater are on high alert at all times and are resolute in defending national sovereignty and security as well as regional peace and stability.”