Hong Kong / Beijing / Taipei, September 6, 2025 — Canadian and Australian naval vessels conducted a high-profile transit of the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, drawing a swift response from China’s military, which shadowed the ships and condemned the move as a provocation.
According to Chinese state media, the Canadian frigate HMCS Ville de Québec and the Australian guided-missile destroyer HMAS Brisbane sailed north through the 180-kilometre-wide waterway separating Taiwan from mainland China. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command confirmed it had dispatched naval and aerial assets to monitor the vessels, insisting the passage was “under full control.”
PLA spokesperson Shi Yi described the transit as sending “wrong signals” and “disrupting stability in the region,” warning that such actions heightened security risks across the strait.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense confirmed the passage and said it had deployed appropriate air and naval units to safeguard stability. Taipei reiterated that the Taiwan Strait constitutes an international waterway, a position shared by most Western governments but rejected by Beijing, which regards the strait as falling within its sphere of sovereignty.
Canada and Australia have not yet issued official statements on the operation. However, both countries have previously signaled support for freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific and have joined similar passages alongside the United States, Britain, and other allies.
The transit highlights the growing pattern of allied naval operations challenging China’s expansive maritime claims. While Washington routinely conducts freedom of navigation operations in the region, Canadian and Australian deployments mark a broader alignment of Western partners in asserting that international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, guarantees open passage through the Taiwan Strait.
Saturday’s operation underscores the rising friction in one of the world’s most sensitive maritime corridors, where legal interpretations of sovereignty collide with increasing strategic rivalry.
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