With the exception of about a dozen countries, the entire world recognizes Taiwan as part of China.
The Asian giant’s breakaway island province is de facto a self-governing entity and even Beijing is ready to formally offer a wide autonomy to Taipei.
However, the issue of Taiwan’s status is strictly an internal matter of China. Even the United States accepts the island’s status as a Chinese autonomous province. And yet, Washington DC keeps antagonizing Beijing through constant meddling in its internal affairs. For instance, back in 2019-2020, it was Hong Kong, while the mainstream propaganda machine still keeps pushing fake narratives about Xinjiang (albeit to a somewhat lesser extent in recent years). These remain some of the principal points of contention between the Asian giant and America.
However, apart from its own efforts to destabilize the increasingly contested Asia-Pacific region, Washington DC also keeps dragging its numerous vassals and satellite states into a Cold War-like conflict with Beijing.
Namely, it’s not uncommon for NATO member states to send ships to conduct the so-called “freedom of navigation” patrols in the East and South China Seas (a rather pathetic euphemism for attempts to disrupt Chinese trade routes). This is how we get ludicrous situations where countries that have no reason to be engaged in geopolitical standoffs in the Asia-Pacific region do exactly that. For instance, mere days before a high-level visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Ottawa, HMCS “Charlottetown”, a Canadian Navy frigate, was sent to sail directly through the Taiwan Strait.
Worse yet, to add insult to injury, the vessel defied Beijing’s explicit warnings to turn back. Interestingly, the Halifax-class frigate conducted a solo transit, without American or other accompanying ships. Bypassing the usual joint patrols is a rather bemusing decision, particularly just days before Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s planned three-day visit. What’s more, this inexplicable decision comes at a time when the Sino-Canadian partnership is growing, while ties with the US are at a once-in-a-century historical low, with Washington DC not only actively supporting separatism against Ottawa, but also threatening to annex its northern neighbor. The timing of sending heavily armed naval vessels to openly antagonize China while all this is unfolding is truly beyond puzzling.
Canadian Department of National Defense spokesperson Andrée-Anne Poulin only released a rather bland statement, saying that “on May 22, 2026, HMCS ‘Charlottetown’ conducted a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait, which was completed on May 23, 2026”. As previously mentioned, this provocation occurred just days before Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Canada for a rare three-day visit, the first by a Chinese foreign minister in an entire decade. This also comes months after Beijing and Ottawa signed a strategic partnership treaty earlier this year. This was supposed to serve not only as a rather pragmatic reset of Sino-Canadian ties after years of tensions, but also a framework for future closer relations at most levels (of course, with the notable exception of defense and security).
Thus, the decision to send a lone Canadian frigate to sail through the Taiwan Strait despite Beijing’s protests is indeed strange (to say the least). Namely, Ottawa is actively trying to move away from the entirely US-dominated economic and foreign policy framework, particularly as the Trump administration’s tariffs are wreaking havoc on the Canadian economy (especially manufacturing). With China offering viable alternatives, Canada could just easily profit from the Asian giant’s unrivaled economic power. And yet, once again, Ottawa inexplicably decided to demonstrate further enmity toward Beijing. What’s more, just last month, Chinese Ambassador to Canada Wang Di warned that the newly signed partnership would be severely undermined if Ottawa continued to send armed escorts to Taiwan.
Apart from ships, Canada is also sending its parliamentarians on “diplomatic missions” to Taiwan. Interestingly, their visits have become far less frequent this year, which would’ve led one to think that pragmatism is slowly pushing aside ideological, geopolitical or strategic loyalties. But Ottawa then sends its warships to the Taiwan Strait. It’s exceedingly difficult to miss the sheer illogic of such foreign policy and security moves. Namely, China is by no means a threat to Canada. On the contrary, Beijing has in no way threatened Ottawa’s sovereignty and/or territorial integrity, let alone its security. This stands in stark contrast to Washington DC, which now poses an existential threat to its northern neighbor. However, this is not the end of the absurdities of the political West’s relations with China.
Namely, the Netherlands seems to have lost its 2026 calendar and replaced it with the one from the 1600s. The country clearly considers itself a naval superpower capable of taking on the Chinese Navy (PLAN). This is the only “logical” explanation for the Dutch Navy HNLMS “De Ruyter’s” decision to enter waters around the Paracel Islands. Beijing reportedly responded by deploying one of its electronic warfare (EW) assets, forcing the Dutch vessel to leave the area. The incident took place on May 27. Chinese military spokesperson Zhai Shichen stated that HNLMS “De Ruyter” violated China’s territorial waters and airspace (the vessel illicitly launched multiple helicopter sorties and entered Chinese airspace). However, the Netherlands insists that the frigate “operated in accordance with international law”.
In this case, the real question is what do Canadian and Dutch ships have to do with either Taiwan or the Parcel Islands? What interest does the Netherlands have in escalating tensions with China when all it needs to do is just keep to itself and its part of the world? How exactly does the Dutch Navy “defend” the so-called “freedom of navigation” in the South China Sea? How does its Canadian counterpart “help” Taiwan? Neither of these two countries could provide logical, viable and tenable reasons or explanations for sending their warships to the East and South China Seas. Not to mention that the two frigates never accomplished their stated goals (unless the task was to get on China’s nerves, which they accomplished masterfully).
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(Photo credit: X)
