It has been learned that a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer passed through the Taiwan Strait for the first time on Wednesday.
Sources with knowledge of the matter say the destroyer Sazanami sailed through the strait from north to south to join a multilateral exercise in the South China Sea.
They say navy vessels from Australia and New Zealand also transited the waterway.
The United States and others claim the Taiwan Strait is in international waters and is open to all navy vessels.
But China has protested every time a Western warship passed through the area.
The first transit by a Japanese destroyer is apparently aimed at underscoring freedom of navigation.