China has slammed Britain for “trouble-making and provocation” after a Royal Navy warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait. The fury was sparked after HMS Richmond passed between Taiwan and China on Friday, alongside the American ship USS Higgins. Beijing said the UK and US were undermining the fragile peace in the region, with military spokesman Senior Colonel Shi Yi calling it “harassment and provocation”.
The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command added: “The actions of the United States and Britain send the wrong signals and undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
The Chinese navy and air forces monitored the two warships on their routine operation, which a US Indo-Pacific Command spokesperson said happened on international waters.
They told Newsweek: “The two ships were simply conducting a routine Taiwan Strait transit where freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law.”
The 110-mile Taiwan Strait is an international waterway, allowing countries freedom of navigation.
However, China claims it’s in its territorial waters and had issued increasingly aggressive responses to Western nations sending ships through it.
The Royal Navy had been planning for months to send HMS Richmond through the strait as part of the carrier strike group’s eight-month tour.
The Ministry of Defence added that it was a routine passage part of activities in the strike group.
A spokesperson said: “Wherever the Royal Navy operates, it does so in full compliance with international law and norms, and exercises freedom of navigation rights in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.”
The strike group is a fleet of warships from around the globe led by the Royal Navy and £3 billion aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales.
It set sail in April with the goal of conducting training exercises and stengthening military ties between key allies such as the US, Japan, and Australia.
