File image of the Royal Australian Navy vessel, HMAS Toowoomba.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
An Australian warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait, a government source said on Sunday (February 22, 2026) in the latest transit of the sensitive waterway by a U.S. ally, which Chinese state-backed media said was tracked and monitored by the nation’s military.
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In addition to claiming sovereignty over democratically governed Taiwan, Beijing views the narrow, highly strategic strait as Chinese territorial waters and has responded aggressively on occasion to foreign navies sailing there.
The Toowoomba, an Anzac-class frigate of the Royal Australian Navy, “conducted a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait” on Friday (February 20, 2026) and Saturday (February 21, 2026) as part of a “Regional Presence Deployment in the Indo-Pacific region”, the source said.
“All interactions with foreign ships and aircraft were safe and professional,” the source said.
China’s state-backed Global Times newspaper, citing an unnamed Chinese military source, reported late on Saturday that “the Chinese People’s Liberation Army carried out full-process tracking, monitoring, and alert operations throughout the transit.”
U.S. warships traverse the strait every few months, enraging Beijing, and some U.S. allies, such as France, Australia, Britain and Canada, have also made occasional transits.
China has ramped up its military presence around Taiwan and staged its latest war games around the island in late December.
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future.
Published – February 22, 2026 08:39 am IST
