Australian Navy ship transits Taiwan Strait: Defense ministry

Taipei, Nov. 24 (CNA) An Australian naval ship passed through the Taiwan Strait Thursday into early Friday, according to Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND).

The ship entered the strait from the north and sailed south, the MND said in a statement, which did not identify the vessel.

The MND said it was closely monitoring the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Strait as the ship was making the transit Thursday into early Friday, and nothing unusual was observed.

As of press time, the Australian Navy had not issued any statement on the matter.

The Taiwan Strait is defined by international law as an area in which high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply, but transits by international vessels often draw the ire of China, which has been trying to establish dominance in the Indo-Pacific region.

On Nov. 18, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles accused the Chinese Navy of injuring Australian Navy divers, who were in international waters in Japan's exclusive economic zone clearing fishing nets that had gotten caught on the propellers of their ship the HMAS Toowoomba.

Marles said a Chinese destroyer closed in on the Toowoomba, ignoring a warning to keep a safe distance, and emitted sonar pulses that caused "minor injuries" to the Australian divers.

Those actions by the Chinese Navy were "unsafe and unprofessional," he said.

In response, the Chinese government issued a statement on Nov. 20, saying the accusations were "completely untrue."