New Zealand's largest naval vessel, HMNZS Aotearoa, has completed a transit of the Taiwan Strait, a waterway sitting within the South China Sea, over which several nations, including China and the Philippines, hold contested territorial claims.
A Reuters report stated that Chinese forces tracked and followed the ship during its passage.
Defence Minister Judith Collins confirmed the supply vessel had been on deployment since September, following maintenance work carried out in Singapore. HMNZS Aotearoa passed through the Strait on 5 November, bound for the North Asian region to take part in United Nations monitoring of sanctions against North Korea.
Collins said all actions during the transit had been safe, professional and consistent with international law. That included exercising the right to freedom of navigation, as guaranteed under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea.
"The NZDF conducts all activities in accordance with international law and best practice. By doing this, we are demonstrating our commitment to the international rules-based system in our near region - the Indo-Pacific."
HMNZS Aotearoa also sailed through the Strait in September the previous year, on that occasion alongside an Australian ship as part of what Collins described at the time as routine activity.
