US, Canada Navies Sail Through Taiwan Strait After China War Games Encircled Taiwan

‘The international community’s navigational rights and freedoms in the Taiwan Strait should not be limited,’ U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said.

A ship sails in the Taiwan Strait between the coast of Pingtan island (foreground), the closest point to Taiwan, and another island in China's southeast Fujian Province on April 7, 2023. Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images

A U.S. guided-missile destroyer and a Canadian frigate sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Oct. 20, less than a week after communist China conducted military exercises around Taiwan.

The U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet issued a statement on Oct. 20 saying that the destroyer USS Higgins and the Canadian frigate HMCS Vancouver made a “routine” transit a day earlier “through waters where high-seas freedom of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law.”