China said on Saturday that its soldiers had watched the passage of Australian and Canadian warships through the Taiwan Strait, criticizing their presence in the sensitive navigable path as “causing trouble”.
Beijing considers Taiwan as part of its territory and claims competence on the water that separates the self-structured island from the Chinese continent.
“On September 6, the Canadian frigate” Quebec “and the Australian destroyer” Brisbane “transformed the Taiwan Strait, causing trouble and provoking,” said Colonel Senior Shi Yi, spokesperson for the Ordinary Theater of the People’s Army of Liberation (PLA).
The PLA “organized naval and air forces to monitor and supervise their entire transits, responding and effectively managing the situation,” Shi in a statement.
“The actions of Canada and Australia send the wrong signals and increase security risks,” he added.
“”[Chinese] The troops remain at any time on alert, resolutely protecting national sovereignty and security and regional peace and stability. “”
Beijing has accelerated the deployment of hunting jets and naval ships around Taiwan in recent years to support his complaint for sovereignty, which Taipei rejects.
The United States frequently sends ships through the Taiwan Strait, and several of its Western allies have increased its presence with regular transits -although less common -.
In June, China criticized the United Kingdom for sending a naval patrol ship through the navigable path, saying that it “knew peace and stability”.
