Two US and Canadian warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait and openly hyped it
Source: Global Times
The Eastern Theater of the People's Liberation Army confirmed on 9 July that two warships of the United States and Canada sailed through the Taiwan Strait and openly hyped it. This is the second joint U.S. and Canadian voyage to the Taiwan Strait since June 3. Chinese experts told the Global Times reporter on the 10th that this provocative behavior is purely out of measure.
Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesman for the Eastern Theater, said that on 9 September, the US "Johnson" and "Ottawa" ships sailed through the Taiwan Strait and openly hyped them. The Eastern Theater of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) organizes naval and air forces to follow the supervision and vigilance throughout the process, and deal with them in accordance with laws and regulations. The theater troops maintain a high degree of alert at all times and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and security and regional peace and stability. Reuters said that this is the second time that the United States and Canada have jointly navigated the Taiwan Strait this year. On 3 June this year, the US destroyer "Zhong Yun" and the Canadian frigate "Montreal" sailed through the Taiwan Strait. In recent years, the U.S. military has sailed through the Taiwan Strait with Canadian ships on October 15, 2021 and September 20, 2022.
Recently, Canada has not been friendly to China at sea. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation recently hyped that the frigate "Ottawa" had at least three "encounters" with Chinese naval vessels. The report also specifically mentioned that the Chinese destroyer was "fully armed" and shouted to the Canadian warship, and the distance between the two sides was about 1 kilometer. In addition, the report claimed that the Canadian ship was "laser irradiated" and the Chinese ship also released a drone. The report also mentioned that a Chinese warplane approached the Ottawa at high speed and turned away 32 kilometers from it. Military expert Zhang Junshe said in an interview with the Global Times that even from Canadian media reports, the response methods of both Chinese ships and fighters are in line with international practice and there is nothing impeccable. Canada's move is purely to smear China as a victim and mislead the international community.
In addition, Canada recently played up the "China threat" by investigating Air Force pilot training Chinese and so-called Chinese "interference in the election." For Canada to follow the United States as a "follower", Li Haidong, a professor at the Foreign Affairs College, said that there are two main reasons for this: on the one hand, Canada lacks strategic autonomy in defense and security, and needs to exchange its own security through dependence on the United States; On the other hand, in recent years, Canada's handling of relations with China has been very ideological, just as the United States must oppose China when discussing its China policy at home, and anti-China has become a pathological "political correctness", which is used by politicians as a tool to win votes and increase media exposure.