The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer JS Akizuki sails ahead of the USS Milius in the South China Sea, Oct. 19, 2021. (Christine Montgomery/U.S. Navy)
A Japanese destroyer sailed through the Taiwan Strait last month, marking the second such transit by a Japanese naval vessel since September, the country’s public broadcaster reported Saturday.
The JS Akizuki, of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, traveled southwest through the 110-mile-wide channel separating mainland China from Taiwan in early February, NHK reported, citing unnamed sources.
The warship participated in a Feb. 5 drill near the Philippines alongside the U.S., Australian and Philippine navies, according to a 7th Fleet news release. The guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold and a U.S. P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft also took part.
NHK’s report did not specify whether the Akizuki sailed through the strait before or after the training.
Japan’s Ministry of Defense declined to comment on the transit Monday, citing security reasons. Some Japanese government officials speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.
Japan’s first known naval transit of the strait occurred on Sept. 25, when the destroyer JS Sazanami passed through the waterway alongside Australian and New Zealand vessels. Japanese media, including Kyodo News, reported that the ships were en route to the South China Sea for exercises.
Beijing considers such transits provocative and views the Taiwan Strait as its territorial waters. China has long asserted that Taiwan is a breakaway province that must be reunified with the mainland.
China has “sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction” over the strait, former Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in June 2022. Wang, now China’s ambassador to Cambodia, called references to the strait as international waters an “attempt to manipulate China’s claim over Taiwan.”
The U.S. sails regularly through the Taiwan Strait, describing the transits as routine movements between the South China and East China seas.
Most recently, the guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the survey ship USNS Bowditch sailed southwest through the strait between Feb. 10 and 12, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command told Stars and Stripes at the time. It was the first such transit of President Donald Trump’s second administration.
In recent months, the USS Higgins and HMCS Vancouver, a Canadian frigate, sailed through the waterway, and a U.S. P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft flew over the strait in November.
