TAIPEI - Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said on Nov 24 that an Australian warship had sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the sensitive and narrow waterway that separates the democratically governed island from China.

The ship, which it did not name, entered the strait on Nov 23 and sailed in a southerly direction, the ministry added.

Taiwan’s military kept watch throughout, it said, without giving details.

An Australian official confirmed the ship, the Toowoomba, transited the international waters of the Taiwan Strait as part of its regional deployment.

Mr Euan Graham, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the Australian navy has regularly transited the Taiwan Strait but “choose not to publicise it”.

The transit happens at a difficult time in Australia-China military relations even as the two countries seek to get ties back on track.

China’s Foreign Ministry said the country’s position on the issue has been “consistent and clear”.

“We urge the parties concerned to refrain from taking provocative actions and causing trouble towards the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in a regular briefing.

Last week, Canberra complained of an incident involving a Chinese warship and an Australian navy vessel in Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone in which an Australian military diver was injured.

The US Navy sends ships through the strait around once a month in what it calls “routine” transits.

China regularly objects to these transits.

Mr Graham said that the Australian navy transits the Taiwan Strait because it is the shortest route between the East China Sea and South China Sea, and he warned against reading too much into the timing of the latest transit.

“It’s a befitting coincidence but shouldn’t be misinterpreted as Australia going out of its way to make a point to China, after the sonar incident,” he said.

“Transits through the Taiwan Strait shouldn’t be controversial, just lawfully going from the East China Sea to the South China Sea via the shortest route.”

Taiwan has over the past four years complained of repeated Chinese military activity around the island, especially in the strait.

China regards the self-governing Taiwan as its territory to be reunified.

Taiwan, whose government rejects China’s sovereignty claims, is gearing up for presidential and parliamentary elections on Jan 13. REUTERS