TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Canada is reportedly planning on sending more warships through the Taiwan Strait in the near future to send a strong signal to China that it wishes to maintain the international status of the vital sea lane.
On Nov. 27, Canada launched its new Indo-Pacific Strategy that lays out a roadmap for the country's involvement in the region for the coming ten years. In the document, Ottawa tabled China as an "increasingly disruptive global power" and vowed to work with partners to "push back against any unilateral actions that threaten the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, as well as the East and South China Seas."
On Sept. 20, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer the USS Higgins (DDG 76) and the Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigate HMCS Vancouver (FFH 331) "conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit" that day "through waters where high seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law," according to the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet. That same day, Canada's National Defence Minister Anita Anand stated: "As a Pacific nation, Canada is deeply committed to upholding global stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region."
In an interview with Financial Times published on Monday (Dec. 5), Canadian foreign minister Melanie Joly revealed that her country plans to dispatch more warships to the Taiwan Strait to make it "clear" that the Taiwan Strait "remains an international strait." Joly stated that the September patrol had been conducted in order to enforce the "international rules-based order" in the Taiwan Strait and pointed out that "we're looking to have more frigates going through it."
The foreign minister told the newspaper that Ottawa is "committing to new military assets" and is investing C$400mn (US$298 million) in military aid for the Indo-Pacific region. Joly said that Canada will beef up its military presence in the region by boosting the number of frigates deployed from one to three.
September's mission followed a pattern in recent years of warships of allies, such as the U.K. and Canada, occasionally accompanying U.S. military vessels through the strait. On Oct. 14-15, 2021, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey and the Canadian Halifax-class frigate HMCS Winnipeg passed through the Taiwan Strait together.