Two Canadian naval vessels sail through Taiwan Strait

Two Canadian naval vessels sailed through the Taiwan Strait, Taipei's and Canada's defence ministries said, in the latest naval passage likely to irk Beijing. The ships sailed through the narrow waterway separating the Chinese mainland and Taiwan in a "freedom of navigation" operation, the Taipei ministry said in a statement issued late Wednesday, without providing any details.
The next morning, however, Canada's military downplayed the voyage, saying: "Transit through the Taiwan Strait is not related to making any statement." The frigate HMCS Regina and support vessel Asterix, it said in a statement, had come from a visit to Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay and were headed to Northeast Asia to join "a multinational effort to counter North Korea's evasion of UN Security Council sanctions by maritime smuggling."
"The most practical route between Cam Ranh Bay and Northeast Asia involves sailing through the Taiwan Strait." Taipei said that Taiwan's military had closely monitored the "movements of the relevant aircraft and vessels in the region" as the ships passed through the strait.