Taiwan Strait is in news again. After a US warship conducted a ‘routine’ transit through the strait recently, a British warship HMS Richmond travelled through the same area on Monday.   

The development is a rare voyage by a non-US military vessel as the US has been regularly performing “freedom of navigation” voyages in the strait. This waterway separates Taiwan and mainland China.  

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In last some months, tensions have been continuously rising between China and Taiwan, and the regular transits by the warships of other countries have been only enraging Beijing further.   

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In a tweet, HMS Richmond, a frigate deployed with Britain’s aircraft carrier strike group, said, “After a busy period working with partners and allies in the East China Sea, we are now en route through the Taiwan Strait to visit Vietnam and the Vietnam People’s Navy.”   

Confirming reports, Taiwan’s defence minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said that a foreign vessel sailed through the waterway but did not state which country it was from.  

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China claims Taiwan as a breakaway province, which it has said will be unified with the mainland by force if necessary.

Chinese jets have been repeatedly entering Taiwan’s airspace in recent months with over 380 incursions reported into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ) earlier.  

(With inputs from agencies)