KYODO NEWS



 

A Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force vessel has sailed through the Taiwan Strait for the first time at Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's direction, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday, triggering an immediate backlash from China.

On Wednesday, the destroyer Sazanami, along with Australian and New Zealand vessels, headed southward from the East China Sea and through the narrow waterway between China and Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China claims as its own territory, the sources said.

The ships were believed to be heading to the South China Sea for an exercise apparently aimed at challenging Beijing's growing military assertiveness in the region.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment on the issue, saying it is "a matter related to the Self-Defense Forces' operations." A government source said Tokyo does not intend to unnecessarily provoke Beijing by referring to the passage.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Thursday that Beijing has protested to Tokyo over the passage of the Japanese ship, adding China is "highly vigilant about the political intentions" of the neighboring country's move.

"We urge Japan to honor its promises on the Taiwan issue, be cautious in words and deeds, and not disrupt Sino-Japanese relations as well as peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," Lin said. The Chinese military dealt with the passage "in accordance with laws," he added.

Gen. Yoshihide Yoshida, chief of the Defense Ministry's Joint Staff, told a press conference that increased Chinese military activities in the Indo-Pacific region is a "deep concern" not only for Japan but also for the international community.

"We will continue to monitor (China's) activities, gather information and analyze it for the enhancement of surveillance," Yoshida said without directly referring to the MSDF ship's passage through the Taiwan Strait.

The United States regularly sends warships through the Taiwan Strait to assert freedom of navigation in international waters. Allies including Britain have also made such transits, with the German navy recently sending its first warship through the Taiwan Strait in 22 years, drawing China's ire.

Based in Kure in Hiroshima Prefecture, the Sazanami is about 150 meters long and 17 meters wide, and can reportedly accommodate a crew of 170.

China has been increasing its military activities around Japan, with a spy plane violating Japanese airspace near islands in Nagasaki Prefecture in late August.

On Sept. 18, the Liaoning became the first Chinese aircraft carrier to enter the contiguous zone just outside Japanese territorial waters, sailing between remote islands in southern Japan from the East China Sea.

Taiwan is viewed as a potential military flashpoint in U.S.-China relations, with Beijing regarding the island as a renegade province to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

China and Taiwan have been governed separately since they split in 1949 as the result of a civil war.

Tensions have been rising in recent years, with Chinese military planes frequently crossing the median line in the Taiwan Strait, a boundary Beijing and Taipei had tacitly respected for decades.