Veteran Canadian foreign correspondent Matthew Fisher says he witnessed a pair of frontline Chinese Su-30 fighter jets buzz Canadian frigate HMCS Regina Monday in the East China Sea, in international waters east of Shanghai.
Fisher, who throughout his 34-year career as a foreign correspondent has covered 19 conflicts including Somalia, the Rwandan genocide, Chechnya, the Balkan Wars, Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, the two Gulf Wars and Afghanistan, says it was the first such close encounter between a Chinese warplane and a Royal Canadian Navy warship.
Fisher was aboard the warship as part of his fellowship at Canadian Global Affairs Institute and wrote about the experience in a column.
Geo-political dance in hotly disputed waters of the western Pacific just get a new player as Cdn warship buzzed by frontline Chinese fighter jet. Royal Canadian Navy ships were shadowed by Chinese for 4,000 miles on voyage from Vietnam across SCS, Strait of Taiwan, East China Sea https://t.co/8NZwBKlRcR
— Matthew Fisher (@mfisheroverseas) 27 June 2019
“The noisy fly-past came after the Canadians had spent days observing as many as a dozen other Su-30 fighter jets flying at least several kilometres away from the ship,” Fisher wrote.
“While more aggressive than anything the RCN has seen before from Chinese fighter jets, those aboard HMCS Regina did not consider the Su-30s’ actions to be unduly provocative or hazardous.”
Canada’s Defence Department says the Regina and the navy’s interim resupply ship, MV Asterix, were travelling in international waters from Vietnam to the coast of North Korea to help the UN prevent North Korean smuggling.
It says the decision to transit the strait between mainland China and Taiwan was not intended to send a political message, but simply represented the most practical route for the vessels.
“The most practical route between Cam Ranh Bay (in Vietnam) and Northeast Asia involves sailing through the Taiwan Strait,” Defence Department spokesman Jessica Lamirande told The Canadian Press.
“Transit through the Taiwan Strait is not related to making any statement.”
Another Canadian warship, HMCS Calgary, made the same trip last October.
Yet China recently condemned France and the U.S. for similar passages through what it described as “Chinese waters,” as it claims ownership over Taiwan and has been asserting its dominance over various coastal regions in the area.
The latest display of Chinese power and Canada’s willingness to sail in an incredibly sensitive area for mainland China comes amid growing tensions between Ottawa and Beijing.
Relations between the two countries have reached the lowest point since 1976, after Canada arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in December on an extradition request from the United States. China detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor in apparent retaliation.
China is also putting economic pressure on Canada by suspending imports of Canadian agricultural goods, including canola seed and meat.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who arrived in Osaka Thursday for a G20 leaders’ summit in Japan, is expected to rely on U.S. President Donald Trump to raise the plight of the two detained Canadians during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Beijing has refused high level contacts with Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland to discuss the row.
Canadian officials say their efforts to organize a short meeting between Trudeau and Xi on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Osaka have been rebuffed so far.
With files from The Canadian Press
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