MSDF Ship Makes Solo Passage Through Taiwan Strait; Destroyer’s February Voyage Aimed to Keep China in Check

The Yomiuri Shimbun

2:00 JST, March 2, 2025

A Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer made a solo transit through the Taiwan Strait in early February, according to Japanese government sources. The move is aimed to put a brake on China, which has increased its military pressure in the East and South China Seas.

This is the second time an MSDF vessel has passed through the strait. The first time was in September last year, when an MSDF vessel was accompanied by other countries’ vessels.

The destroyer Akizuki sailed through the strait from north to south and participated in joint exercises with the United States, Australia and the Philippines in the South China Sea on Feb. 5.

China has escalated its provocative activities, such as having three warships and three coast guard vessels sail together for the first time in waters between Okinawa Island and Miyako Island of Okinawa Prefecture in December. Four Chinese Coast Guard vessels equipped with 76mm cannons — the same caliber as those on military ships — also sailed in Japan’s contiguous zone around the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture.

Amid concerns about this situation, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba approved the dispatch of the Akizuki to counter such activities by China.

The United States and other countries and regions regard the Taiwan Strait as international waters that do not belong to the territorial waters of any country. Territorial waters extending 12 nautical miles (about 22 kilometers) from the baseline of the coast are under the sovereignty of the coastal state, but the Taiwan Strait is at least 130 kilometers wide at its narrowest point.

In light of this, the Japanese government also takes the position that freedom of navigation in the strait is recognized as it is outside the territorial waters of China.

Successive Japanese administrations had refrained from having MSDF vessels pass through the Taiwan Strait in consideration of a potential backlash from China.

However, as China has increased military tensions in apparent preparation for a Taiwan contingency, Japan has shifted its stance to actively call for freedom of navigation.

In September last year, when then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was in office, the MSDF destroyer Sazanami was dispatched and sailed through the strait together with Australian and New Zealand naval vessels.