A Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) guided-missile destroyer sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, accompanied by a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) destroyer and a Royal New Zealand Navy fleet oiler, according to Japanese media reports on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (CSG) made a quick stop in Guam to replenish supplies on Wednesday before departing the island on Thursday. Elsewhere amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD-4) carried out drills in the Pacific Ocean with a JMSDF destroyer from Sunday to Wednesday while in Australia, the U.S. Navy, RAN and Royal Canadian Navy conducted vertical-launch missile reloadings.
On Thursday, Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun and news agency Kyodo News reported that JMSDF destroyer JS Sazanami (DD-113) sailed south through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, accompanied by Australian and New Zealand ships in a transit that took more than 10 hours. The sail through the Taiwan Strait was done at Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s direction. Both media also reported that the ships were headed to the South China Sea to conduct a joint exercise there.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, the Japanese government’s official spokesperson, declined to answer questions on the transit in his daily press conference on Thursday, stating that as it was a Japan Self Defense Force (JSDF) operation, he would refrain from making any comment. Defense Minister Minoru Kihara’s regularly scheduled press conferences are held on Friday and Tuesdays so he has yet to comment to the media on the matter. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense made no remarks on the transits.
China’s Ministry of National Defense and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command, which oversees PLA operations around the Taiwan Strait and normally issues statements on transits by foreign ships, has yet to issue any statement on the matter. However, China Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian, on Thursday during the Ministry’s daily press conference stated that the Chinese military had handled in accordance with laws and regulations A JMSDF vessel’s entering the Taiwan Strait, and China is highly vigilant on Japan’s political intention behind this move. “We urge Japan to honor its commitment and act prudently on the Taiwan question, and refrain from causing disruption to its relations with China and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” stated Lin according to a transcript. Asked on the passage of Australian and New Zealand ships, Lin said that China handles foreign warships’ transit through the Taiwan Strait in accordance with laws and regulations while staying vigilant against any acts that might jeopardize China’s sovereignty and security.
New Zealand newspaper The Post reported that New Zealand Defence Minister Judith Collins, in a statement confirmed that RNZN fleet oiler HMNZS Aotearoa (A11) sailed together with RAN destroyer HMAS Sydney (DDG-42) through the Taiwan Strait. “This was a routine movement from one point in the Indo-Pacific to another and not directed at, or requested by, any particular country.” said Collins, according to the Post’s report, though she made no mention of the JMSDF ship.
Both Sydney and Aotearoa had recently wrapped up surveillance missions on North Korea maritime sanctions evasions. Sydney is likely to be heading home soon to Australia, having set out in mid-June to carry out its deployment, which included participating in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2024 exercise held in Hawaii during the summer.
It is unclear if any ships from other nations will be joining the South China Sea drill, though only a handful of ships from other partner nations are currently in the region. Royal Navy offshore patrol vessel HMS Spey (P234) is currently in Cambodia on a port visit, while Italian Navy ITS Raimondo Montecuccoli (P432), part of the Italian Navy Cavour CSG but currently detached from it, docked into Laem Chabang, Thailand on Monday for a port visit and departs on Friday. The Cavour CSG, currently comprising of aircraft carrier ITS Cavour (550), frigate ITS Alpino (F594) and French Navy frigate FNS Bretagne (D655) left Singapore on Monday with its next stop being Goa, India, with Bretagne then leaving the CSG for national tasking, according to information provided by the Cavour CSG to USNI News when it was docked in Singapore. The German Navy Indo-Pacifc deployment unit consisting of frigate FGS Baden-Württemberg (F222) and fleet oiler FGS Frankfurt am Main (A1412), which conducted a Taiwan Strait transit from Sept. 13-14, is also operating in the South China Sea with a scheduled port visit to Singapore on Oct. 1. Pentagon media portal DVIDS shows destroyer USS Howard (DDG-83) operating in the South China Sea on Tuesday and it is likely that there are several other U.S. Navy destroyers along with littoral combat ships that could join the JMSDF-RAN-RNZN drill.
Meanwhile, the Theodore Roosevelt CSG departed Guam on Thursday following a scheduled visit to bring on stores and equipment, according to a Navy release on Thursday. The release did not state when the CSG arrived at Guam, only that it conducted a brief visit, but the Pacific Daily News reported the CSG as arriving on Wednesday. The CSG currently is comprised of carrier Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) with embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 11, and destroyers USS Russell (DDG-59) and USS Daniel Inouye (DDG-118), according to the release. In the Pacific Ocean, amphibious assault ship Boxer carried out tactical drills in the Pacific Ocean with JMSDF destroyer JS Kongo (DDG-173) from Sunday to Wednesday. The drills consisted of surface warfare and link exercises according to a JMSDF release.
On Wednesday, Australia’s Defence Department issued a release stating that the RAN, U.S. Navy and RCN carried out reloadings of their vertical-launch missile system, which involved RAN frigate HMAS Warramunga (FFH152), U.S. Navy destroyer USS Dewey (DDG-105) and RCN frigate HMCS Vancouver (FFH331). The release did not state when the reloadings took place, but imagery releases provided the dates of the activities, which began on Sept. 19 with Warramunga removing, and then reinstalling, an Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) canister, as proof of concept at the East Arm Wharf in Darwin Port. The next day, Dewey carried out a Standard Missile 2 (SM-2) reloading in the same area while subsequently at the Broome Port, Western Australia, Vancouver, reloaded an ESSM missile.
The release stated that specialist teams made up of representatives from the U.S. Navy, Northern Territory Government, Port of Darwin, Thales and Linx plus experts from more than 10 U.S. and Australian Army and Navy ordnance and munitions commands, executed a re-arming plan that took months to develop but had to be executed in a few short hours in the face of challenging conditions. It also added that senior representatives from all three navies were aboard Dewey to discuss the re-arming activities and their implications.
Commander Northern Command, RAN Captain Mitchell Livingstone said in the release that the re-arming of these ships delivered on the National Defence Strategy by allowing Australia and partner nations to save many days of transit time to the larger ports along the east and west coasts.
“The ability to go to other places (like Darwin) gives us the quick reaction of reloading; so that if conflict were to erupt, being able to go to various locations around the Indo-Pacific makes it faster to get back on the field to support operations,” said, Cmdr. Nicolas Maruca, Dewey’s commanding officer, in the release.