3 months ago
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An Australian warship sailed done the Taiwan Strait, a government root said connected Sunday (February 22, 2026) successful the latest transit of the delicate waterway by a U.S. ally, which Chinese state-backed media said was tracked and monitored by the nation’s military.
In summation to claiming sovereignty over democratically governed Taiwan, Beijing views the narrow, highly strategical strait as Chinese territorial waters and has responded aggressively on juncture to overseas navies sailing there.
The Toowoomba, an Anzac-class frigate of the Royal Australian Navy, “conducted a regular transit done the Taiwan Strait” connected Friday (February 20, 2026) and Saturday (February 21, 2026) arsenic portion of a “Regional Presence Deployment successful the Indo-Pacific region”, the root said.
“All interactions with foreign ships and craft were harmless and professional,” the root said.
China’s state-backed Global Times newspaper, citing an unnamed Chinese subject source, reported precocious connected Saturday that “the Chinese People’s Liberation Army carried retired full-process tracking, monitoring, and alert operations passim the transit.”
U.S. warships traverse the strait each fewer months, enraging Beijing, and immoderate U.S. allies, specified arsenic France, Australia, Britain and Canada, person also made occasional transits.
China has ramped up its military beingness astir Taiwan and staged its latest warfare games astir the land successful precocious December.
Taiwan’s authorities rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying lone the island’s radical tin determine their future.
