As Canadian, allied ships sail to new missions, tensions over Taiwan remain – National | 24CA News
In the strongest present of pressure seen on the journey up to now, Canadian, Japanese, Australian and American ships have all sailed collectively towards new missions within the East China Sea.
The MV Asterix, a Canadian navy refuelling ship, led the formation as helicopters buzzed over prime, photographing the mission. As Lt.-Cmdr. Scott Richard Colbourne, govt officer of HMCS Montreal described it, the present demonstrated “our interoperability, our capabilities together and the fact we’re willing together as one group.”
Meanwhile, photobombing within the background had been three Chinese warships.
Colbourne says their presence was “not an impediment” to what the allied ships had been doing.
But two days in the past within the Taiwan Strait, their affect was important.
A Chinese warship got here inside 150 yards of hitting American destroyer USS Chung-Hoon on Saturday throughout a uncommon joint Canada-U.S. mission crusing by means of the Taiwan Strait, the newest aggressive navy transfer from Beijing within the South China Sea.
Global News has been travelling on HMCS Montreal since May 25 within the South China Sea and witnessed the close to collision from the bridge wing of the ship.
A People’s Liberation Navy ship picked up appreciable velocity and minimize in entrance of the bow of the Chung-Hoon, a manoeuvre HMCS Montreal’s commander, Capt. Paul Mountford, referred to as “not professional.”
When the Chinese vessel altered its course, Mountford says the crew referred to as the American ship and informed it to maneuver or there could be a collision. The Americans responded by asking the Chinese to remain away from the ship, however the Chung-Hoon in the end wanted to change course and decelerate to keep away from a crash.
The U.S. navy on Sunday night time launched new footage of that shut encounter with the Chinese warship — one which retired vice-admiral Mark Norman, a 39-year veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy and former commander of the fleet, referred to as “clearly provocative.”
“This was not an accident,” he stated in an interview with The West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson.
The Chinese ship is part of the world’s largest navy, estimated to have 340 warships. That not too long ago surpassed the U.S. and dwarfs the 30 ships the Canadian Navy has.
The Chinese naval build-up and different navy drills have the West involved a few potential invasion of Taiwan, simply throughout the very waters HMCS Montreal sailed.
Beijing views the democratically ruled island as a breakaway territory and regardless of the Chinese Communist Party by no means controlling Taiwan, the Pentagon believes Chinese President Xi Jinping might order an assault as quickly as 2027.
Would Canada assist defend Taiwan?
U.S. President Joe Biden has stated on 4 events the Americans would defend Taiwan from a Chinese assault. Defence Minister Anita Anand was much less clear in an interview with Global News when requested immediately whether or not Canada would defend Taiwan if China invades.
“Canada respects the one-China policy. At the same time, we have a very large Taiwanese diaspora in Canada and we have strong trade ties with Taiwan, and those are two areas that we will continue to augment, to work on, because they are so important to our country,” she stated.
“We are concerned, however, by China’s military activity in the vicinity of Taiwan, and we urge China to resolve differences through peaceful means.”
In a followup query, Anand was requested whether or not Canada would assist U.S. navy motion to defend Taiwan.
“Well, as I mentioned, we do adhere to the one-China policy, and our policy vis-a-vis China is set out in the Indo-Pacific strategy, where we will challenge China where we must and co-operate where we need to. We want to avoid conflict,” she stated.
“We want to promote peace and stability and the rules-based international order. And that’s what we will continue to do through tangible contributions.”
She added: “The secretary of defense of the United States was very clear about this, too. We need to avoid conflict.”
Lloyd Austin had warned in a speech to the Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore {that a} struggle over Taiwan could be “devastating.”
“Conflict is neither imminent nor inevitable,” Austin stated on Saturday. “Deterrence is strong today – and it’s our job to keep it that way. The whole world has a stake in maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
The Montreal is scheduled to move to port in Okinawa, Japan shortly, which is the place the Global News workforce will get off the ship and head residence. But many of the sailors gained’t be capable to say the identical factor till October, when the ship arrives again in Halifax.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
