"The US torpedo-boat destroyer USS Higgins and the Canadian frigate HMSC Vancouver proceeded via the Taiwan Strait on September 20. The eastern zone of the PLA combat command instructed that naval and air forces accompany the vessels along the entire route. The command units maintain high combat readiness to rapidly resist all threats and provocations and resolutely defend state sovereignty and territorial integrity," a spokesperson for the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), Senior Colonel Shi Yi, said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the US 7th Fleet said that the naval ships had transited the Taiwan Strait to demonstrate the "commitment of the United States and our allies and partners to a free and open Indo-Pacific."
The situation around Taiwan escalated after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in early August. China condemned Pelosi's trip, which it regarded as a gesture of support for separatism, and launched large-scale military exercises in the vicinity of the island.
ZZ/PR