Canada sends warship through Taiwan Strait
Canada sailed a warship through the waters of the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday as the vessel joined the ongoing effort to enforce United Nations sanctions against North Korea.
The Department of National Defence says the frigate HMCS Vancouver sailed through the narrow passage between China and Taiwan alongside the American guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins.
A statement Tuesday from the United States Navy's 7th Fleet says the ships transited "through a corridor in the strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state" to demonstrate a commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan early last month, angering China, which regards the island as its territory.
In response, the Chinese military fired missiles into the Taiwan Strait and mobilized large numbers of ships and warplanes for exercises around the island.
HMCS Vancouver, which has been deployed with HMCS Winnipeg to the waters around the Philippines and Indonesia since August, is expected to participate in exercises with American and Japanese forces while on its sanctions-enforcement mission.
A CH-148 Cyclone helicopter is deployed with the ship and a CP-140 Aurora long-range patrol plane is scheduled to join the sanctions mission in October, operating out of Okinawa, Japan, the Department of National Defence says.
"As a Pacific nation, Canada is deeply committed to upholding global stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region," National Defence Minister Anita Anand said in a statement Tuesday.
"Today’s routine Taiwan Strait transit demonstrates our commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific," Anand added.
Canada's sanctions enforcement mission against North Korea, known as Operation Neon, began in 2018 and was last year extended until the end of April 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.