A Chinese aircraft carrier group sailed through the Taiwan Strait, travelling in a northerly direction after passing through waters near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas islands, Taiwan's defence ministry said on Wednesday.

U.S. and Canadian warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, almost a week after China held massive war games around Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory. The destroyer USS Higgins and the Canadian frigate HMCS Vancouver made a “routine” transit of the Taiwan Strait meant to uphold the principle of freedom of navigation for all countries,

A US and a Canadian warship have passed through waters separating Taiwan and China, a week after Beijing held large-scale military drills in the sensitive passage.

China has conducted live-fire drills just off its coast near Niushan Island, one of the closest Chinese islands to Taiwan.

China said it would carry out live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, two days after US and Canadian warships sailed through the contentious waterway following Beijing’s massive military exercise a week ago.