German navy ships sailed through the Taiwan Strait.
For the first time in over 20 years, two German navy ships have sailed through the Taiwan Strait.
China has criticized this action, saying it violated Chinese sovereignty.
The Baden-Württemberg and the Frankfurt am Main, sailed through the Taiwan Straight on Friday, 13 September 2024.
The Taiwan Straight is classed as International Waters with freedom of use by all ships.
China presumably thinks otherwise.
The Taiwan Strait is a 180-kilometer-wide strait separating the island of Taiwan and the Asian continent. The narrowest part is 130 km wide.
The two German vessels were headed from South Korea to the Philippines, and the course charted by the vessels, through international waters, was “the shortest and safest route given the weather conditions”.
Most countries in the world have signed an agreement with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, agreeing that maritime countries essentially control their territorial waters from the shore out to a distance of 12 miles (19.3 km), the “12-mile limit.”
Within this zone, all laws of that country apply and the country can encourage or forbid sea passage through it (or flights over it) just as if it were a parcel of land.
www.britannica.com/…/laws-on-the-high-seas
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