After months of secretive planning, and preparing the crew to defend their ship if necessary, the Royal Canadian Navy has transited the Taiwan Strait.

As HMCS Ottawa entered the busy and strategically critical body of water at sunrise, it was flanked by three Chinese warships armed with missiles and torpedoes. They mirrored Ottawa’s moves for the entire 17-hour crossing.

Canada made the journey along with the USS Ralph Johnson, a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer, in what both countries describe as a freedom of navigation exercise.

  • wrath-sedan@kbin.social
    104·
    1 year ago

    I think this headline sounds sensationalist. It’s not untrue, but transiting the Taiwan Strait is something the US, Canada, and several other countries do pretty regularly to ensure they are still treated as international waters.

    This headline makes it sound like an escalation when actually it’s pretty normal operating procedure.

        • joshuanozzi@lemmy.mlEnglish
          25·
          1 year ago

          I mean … no? We do have a good track record of defending everyone’s right to transit international waters. There’re maps of the US claims to how far off our coast we claim. It’s not out of the ordinary as far as I know.

          But our attitude? Yeah, with the “right” elected leaders, I could see that changing.

          • SolidGrue@lemmy.worldEnglish
            6·
            1 year ago

            Ah, yeah. That was more my thrust… The attitude about enforcing open transit, because of course that’s what the US will do.

            e: dumb typos

            • joshuanozzi@lemmy.mlEnglish
              16·
              1 year ago

              Understood. Yeah, we’re assholes about plenty of things, but we do defend the world’s right to open transit. China is trying to grab power in international trade by theft. The answer is no.

    • Wakmrow@lemmy.world
      5·
      1 year ago

      I’m genuinely curious what you think the US and Canada are doing by sailing warships through another country’s claimed waters?

      • joshuanozzi@lemmy.mlEnglish
        41·
        1 year ago

        Asserting the fact that China has no legitimate claim just because they suddenly say they do. They’re relying on threat (like bullies) and the big players on the playground aren’t having it. By ignoring the illegitimate claim, they’re showing the world that China will not be allowed to bully. Say what you will about the US (and you’d probably be right), but the US Navy is not one you want to fuck with, which is why they chaperoned the transit.

      • bradorsomething@ttrpg.network
        22·
        1 year ago

        Its a game of bluff. China can make all the claims it wants, but the waterway is traditionally open navigable waters, and rules are basically “do you want to start a war to stake your claim?” You can find many recordings online of western ships passing through the strait, and a constant back and forth of;

        “Turn back, you are in chinese waters.”

        “This is the USS Fillintheblank, we are in International Waters performing a freedom of navigation exercise.”

        “We order you to turn back now.”

        “This is the USS Fillintheblank, we are in…”

        • Wakmrow@lemmy.world
          2·
          1 year ago

          Yes so deliberately being antagonistic to prove the point claiming it’s international waters?

  • joshuanozzi@lemmy.mlEnglish
    39·
    1 year ago

    “🇨🇦🖕🇺🇸” 😂

    Edit: An entire thread forcing me to explain the joke to death while painting me as the idiot is infinitely funnier than the joke itself could ever hope to be. Especially when it’s all started by someone who calls Canada “canadia”. I thank you for your service. 😏

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
      28·
      1 year ago

      The people there are Canadians. It should either be called Canadia or they should be called Canadans. They want it both ways. I don’t accept that. Hail Canadia!

    • downpunxx@kbin.social
      4·
      1 year ago

      canadia sailed a warship through the taiwan straight, and that’s a fuck you to the united states, how?

      • wrath-sedan@kbin.social
        19·
        1 year ago

        Canada made the journey along with the USS Ralph Johnson, a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer, in what both countries describe as a freedom of navigation exercise.

        Also they literally went together lol

        EDIT: Top comment was not actually confused, but is really being dragged through the mud for a slightly ambiguous three emoji combo haha, sorry top comment.

      • steltek@lemm.ee
        4·
        1 year ago

        Maybe he only speaks “High School Emoji” and isn’t that fluent yet. Misunderstandings can happen like that.

        • joshuanozzi@lemmy.mlEnglish
          22·
          1 year ago

          Or - and hear me out here - I’m in my 40s and assumed that those who read my comment had read the full article like I did and understood it was a joint mission between Canada and the US and the meaning would be obvious.

          I apologize my use of emoji wasn’t to your exacting standards but I find comedy that’s forced to lead the reader by the nose isn’t quite as funny. I hope some day you’ll find peace and healing for the harm I’ve caused you.

          • joshuanozzi@lemmy.mlEnglish
            6·
            1 year ago

            I wouldn’t worry too much about a reply-guy who rushes to the defense of another who calls Canada “canadia” to show solidarity in their judgment of “a stupid”. It’s actually funnier than my abhorrent emoji game. 😏

          • steltek@lemm.ee
            2·
            1 year ago

            I didn’t even think I was being hostile? Does no one really remember thinking “embarasada” meant embarrassed in Spanish class?

            But now that I’ve checked back in with this thread and gotten a honestly pretty unexpected hostile reaction, yeah, let’s go with that then.

  • TheBlue22@lemmy.world
    27·
    1 year ago

    China can claim anything they want. They will never enforce it because they can’t. They might be an economic superpower (selling off your population as slaves to do labour for basically no money in awful conditions tends to do that), but they will never be a military one. Their weapons are copied, low quality garbage, their soldiers untrained, and undisciplined.

    Ruzzia may have been the biggest paper tiger in history, China is the second biggest.

    • Isthisreddit@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      1 year ago

      I would say China might actually be a better military power than Russia. No one would have believed just how fucking bad Russia’s military crumbled away. I doubt China has the same issues (but I don’t really know). Let’s say their weapons are copied (copies of what? State of the art weapons systems?) - I’d guess that means they can do some serious damage eitherway, and probably better than what Russia has. They have nukes too.

      • mob@sopuli.xyz
        5·
        1 year ago

        I think being the second biggest paper tiger makes you stronger than the first biggest paper tiger.

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
      8·
      1 year ago

      We can’t know if that’s true until the shooting starts. Nobody knew for sure how strong Russia was until they went to war in Ukraine. In fact, the people who were in the best position to know (the Russians themselves) clearly didn’t know because they never would have started this fight if they knew it would expose them as so weak.

      We do know a bit about how powerful the US would be because they get involved in so many conflicts. But, even then, they haven’t really faced a near-peer opponent since… who knows when.

      In any sustained conflict, the ability to keep feeding troops, food, and supplies to the front line would matter, and that’s where China might have an advantage. They have so many people they could keep feeding into the meat grinder. They have a huge manufacturing-based economy that could supply more and more arms and armour. One weakness is that they’re a net importer of food, which would be a problem if those imports were disrupted.

      One thing’s certain, every country in the world is closely watching what’s happening in Ukraine and trying to learn things without having to put their own soldiers in the firing line. I’m actually sure that that’s one of the conditions for the military aid from the west. Sure, you can use these very modern weapons systems, but you have to turn on telemetry and share everything with us.

      One lesson I’m sure they’re learning so far is that drone warfare is going to be key. They’re key for intelligence gathering, targeted strikes, artillery spotting, etc. A cheap drone can take out much more expensive weapons systems, and they allow a “pilot” to be very close to the action while not being in any danger. Because of China’s drone industry, they’d have an edge in that area.

    • onparole@lemmy.world
      2·
      1 year ago

      The doubts about their non transparency regarding economics has finally hit the fan. Xi is due for a rude awakening. Also fuck Evergrande