On Wednesday, September 25th, a destroyer of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force for the first time sailed through the Taiwan Strait between mainland China and Taiwan. This move is seen as aimed at curbing the increasing military threat of the Chinese Communist Party in the region.
According to sources cited by the Japanese newspaper “Yomiuri Shimbun,” on that morning, the Japanese destroyer Sazanami sailed from north to south through the Taiwan Strait.
It is reported that the vessel, along with the Australian Royal Navy destroyer HMAS Sydney and the New Zealand Royal Navy supply ship HMNZS Aotearoa, entered the Taiwan Strait from the East China Sea side. After more than ten hours of sailing south, they passed through the narrow waterway between Fujian Province and Taiwan that evening. These ships are heading to the South China Sea to participate in military exercises.
The passage of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer through the Taiwan Strait for the first time is to demonstrate a firm opposition to the Chinese mainland’s military activities threatening Japanese sovereignty.
The report states that this passage operation was approved by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The Kishida government believes that without countermeasures, the provocative actions of the Chinese military may escalate, hence the decision to dispatch the Maritime Self-Defense Force to deter such actions.
Recently, the Chinese military has increased its activities around Japan. On August 26th, a Chinese reconnaissance plane violated Japanese airspace near Nagasaki Prefecture, prompting the Japan Ministry of Defense to scramble fighter jets for interception. This was the first time a Chinese military aircraft had breached Japanese airspace, shocking Japan.
Last Wednesday, when the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning and two missile destroyers passed through the waters between Okinawa Prefecture and the islands of Yonaguni and Ishigaki in Japan, they briefly entered the contiguous zone outside Japan’s territorial waters. This marked the first time Japan confirmed a Chinese aircraft carrier sailing in its adjacent zone.
The Taiwan Strait is considered international waters where foreign naval vessels can freely navigate. The United States regularly sends warships through the Taiwan Strait to maintain freedom of navigation. Allied countries such as the UK and Australia have also conducted similar passages in recent years. In mid-September of this year, a German warship passed through the Taiwan Strait for the first time in 22 years.
The Taiwan Strait is approximately 400 kilometers long, with a width of about 130 kilometers at its narrowest point. According to international conventions, a nation’s territorial waters extend up to 12 nautical miles (approximately 22 kilometers) from the baseline. However, China claims sovereignty over the Taiwan Strait and protests whenever Western warships pass through it.