A British Royal Navy patrol vessel has sailed by way of the Taiwan Strait, a Navy spokesperson mentioned on Thursday, saying the passage complied with worldwide legislation.
“HMS Spey’s routine navigation by way of the Taiwan Strait was a part of a long-planned deployment and befell in full compliance with worldwide legislation,” the spokesperson mentioned in a press release.
Whereas Britain’s Ministry of Defence didn’t say when the passage befell, Taiwan’s international ministry mentioned in a press release that it occurred on Wednesday.
“The international ministry welcomes and affirms the British aspect as soon as once more taking concrete actions to defend the liberty of navigation within the Taiwan Strait, demonstrating its agency place that the Taiwan Strait is worldwide waters,” the ministry mentioned.
Whereas China’s authorities has not but commented, its state-backed International Instances newspaper mentioned the Chinese language army tracked the ship because it handed by way of the strait on Wednesday.
China, which views Taiwan as its personal territory, says the strategic waterway belongs to it. Taiwan’s authorities, which rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, says it’s a world waterway.
The final time a British warship sailed by way of the strait was in 2021, when HMS Richmond was deployed within the East China Sea en path to Vietnam. Chinese language army adopted it on the time and warned it away.
The most recent passage comes at a time when Britain and China are in search of to fix their relations, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer anticipated to go to Beijing later this 12 months – the primary journey to the nation by a British chief since 2018.
U.S. Navy ships sail by way of the strait round as soon as each two months, typically accompanied by allied nations.
(Reuters – Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Extra reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; enhancing by William James, Alexandra Hudson and Himani Sarkar)
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