The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force has conducted its first-ever transit
through the Taiwan Strait.

The Yomiuri newspaper said the J-S Saza-nami entered the waters from the
East China Sea, before spending more than 10-hours sailing southward to
complete the passage.

Reports say an unspecified number of Australian and New Zealand Navy ships
also passed through the Taiwan Strait as the J-S Sazanami was conducting the
transit.

Reports say Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ordered the transit as a response to
an August incursion by a Chinese Y-9 reconnaissance aircraft into Japanese
airspace.

That Chinese aircraft entered Japan's airspace on August 26 from the east of
Danjo Islands.

The crossing came after the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning and two other
ships entered Japan's contiguous zone... while sailing through the area
between the Japan-governed Yonaguni Island and the Iriomote Island earlier
this month.