South China Sea: Canada sends warship to join international forces shadowing Beijing’s navy
- Western nations deploy sea power to monitor China’s growing presence in contested waters
- British warship’s pass by China’s island bases was a ‘provocation’
Built to hunt Russian submarines, Canadian frigate HMCS Calgary is instead chasing Japanese and US subs in western Pacific drills as Canada joins other maritime nations in seeking to contain Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
“The expectation is to see one, if not two ships, on a year-round basis doing a variety of things with a variety of partners in the region,” Commander Blair Saltel, the captain of Calgary, said in Yokosuka, Japan.
His ship, docked at the naval base near Tokyo along with Canadian navy supply ship the Asterix, left Canada in July on a mission that has taken it through the East China Sea, to Australia and into the contested South China Sea, where it encountered Chinese warships.
Last week, it joined Japanese and US warships, including the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, for anti-submarine warfare exercises in the western Pacific that were part of the biggest combat readiness exercise yet staged in and around Japan.
“There’s an opportunity for Canada to demonstrate that we have experience working with allies within coalitions,” Saltel said.