"Trouble making and provocation!": China condemns warship sailing in Taiwan Strait

China's state-backed newspaper the Global Times earlier on Saturday reported on the mission.

Taiwan's defence ministry said in a statement that it keeps a close watch on activity in the strait and, "dispatches appropriate air and naval forces to ensure the security and stability," of the waterway, which separates Communist China from the democratic island of Taiwan, which considers it an international waterway.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by James Pomfret in Hong Kong and Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Tom Hogue and Sharon Singleton)