The Royal Navy said a British warship was sailing through the Taiwan Strait on Monday which is considered as a move that challenges Chinese claim to the sensitive water zone and marks a rare transit by a non-US military ship.
“After a busy period working with partners and allies in the East China Sea, we are en route through the Taiwan Strait to visit Vietnam and the Vietnam People’s Navy,” an official account for HMS Richmond, a frigate deployed with Britain’s aircraft carrier strike group tweeted.
Local media claimed that it was the first time a British warship had transited through the narrow waterway separating Taiwan and mainland China.
Until lately, Washington was the main international power willing to transit through the Taiwan Strait. Canadian, French, and Australian warships have all made voyages through the Taiwan Strait in recent times, triggering protests from China.
Taiwan’s defence minister Chiu Kuo-cheng confirmed to the media that a foreign warship had transited through the waterway but it did not tell which country it was from.
