Japan destroyer sails Taiwan Strait after China jet encounter
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer sailed through the Taiwan Strait last week, days after a Chinese fighter jet flew dangerously close to a Japanese patrol plane over the Pacific, diplomatic sources said Thursday.
It was the third known passage through the waterway by an MSDF ship, with all occurring within the past year, apparently aimed at warning China, which continues to pressure Taiwan, the self-ruled democratic island it claims as its own.
The Takanami entered the strait from the East China Sea on June 12 and spent more than 10 hours as it sailed toward the south, the sources said. After the transit, the destroyer headed to waters off the Philippines' main island of Luzon.
The entire transit was tracked and monitored by the Chinese military, according to the sources.
The Takanami conducted a joint maritime exercise with the Philippine Navy on Saturday in a South China Sea area the Southeast Asian country claims jurisdiction over, amid China's intensifying assertions in the waters.
The Japanese government has typically refrained from sending MSDF vessels through the Taiwan Strait to avoid provoking China. But it has shifted its stance amid Beijing's growing assertiveness, joining ally the United States and others in asserting freedom of navigation in what they consider international waters.
The latest transit came after Japan's Defense Ministry said that a Chinese J-15 fighter jet from the aircraft carrier Shandong approached as close as 45 meters to an MSDF P-3C surveillance plane over the high seas in the Pacific on June 7 and 8.
The previous two transits took place in September last year and February this year. The Japanese government has not officially admitted to the activities.
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