Japan Joins Allied Transit of Taiwan Strait for the First Time

For the first time in memory, Japan has dispatched a warship through the contested waters of the Taiwan Strait, drawing China's ire. 

The Japan Maritime Self Defense Force destroyer JS Sazanami transited the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, accompanied by the New Zealand supply ship HMNZS Aotearoa and the Australian destroyer HMAS Sydney. Japan said only that the destroyer passed through the Taiwan Strait as it headed to the South China Sea to conduct routine exercises, but it appeared to be a rare freedom of navigation operation for multiple Pacific nations, conducted without an accompanying U.S. Navy surface presence.

China claims control over the full width of the Taiwan Strait, as well as the island itself and the waters around it. These claims do not align with UNCLOS' 12-nautical-mile limit for sovereign control over territorial seas, as the strait is far wider than the limit. U.S. Navy warships conduct freedom of navigation operations through the strait about once per month, often accompanied or substituted by allied vessels. This is the first time that Japan has joined in such a transit. 

"China is highly vigilant about the political intentions of Japan's actions and has lodged stern representations with Japan," a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said. 

The Global Times, a state-owned opinion outlet that often releases Beijing's most strongly-worded objections, called the transit a "political stunt" and said that the Chinese military had watched the transit closely. "Such an exercise by countries from outside of the region is stirring up troubles and sabotaging freedom of navigation and security in the South China Sea," Chinese military commentator Fu Qianshao told Global Times. 

The Sazanami's transit followed just a week after China's PLA Navy dispatched an aircraft carrier between Japan's Yonaguni Island and Iriomote Island, drawing "serious concerns" from Tokyo about a Chinese military presence so close to Japan's shores. 

"The [carrier transit] incident is absolutely unacceptable from the perspective of the national and regional security," said Japanese cabinet official Hiroshi Moriya last week.