China Warns the UK and US after Warships sail into Taiwan Strait
Beijing / Washington - China has sent formal warnings to the United Kingdom and the United States after the British frigate HMS Richmond and the US destroyer USS Higgins sailed through the strategically sensitive Taiwan Strait on Friday.
Those actions, which the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command called “trouble-making and provocation,” signal sending the “wrong signals and undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” the communiqué said.
Chinese naval and air forces were instructed to monitor and warn both ships at the 110-mile (180 km) crossing from Taiwan to China.
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British frigate HMS Richmond |
US and UK Term It Routine Transit. The UK Ministry of Defence and US Indo-Pacific Command, among others, have indicated it was a standard naval transit. The Royal Navy says it operates “in full compliance with international law and norms,” that it navigates with freedom in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The US Indo-Pacific Command stated that “the Taiwan Strait lies beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state,” noting that navigation rights and freedoms are not to be curtailed.
The Ships Involved. HMS Richmond (Type 23 Duke-class frigate) Operate in the East China Sea since 2021. USS Higgins (Arleigh Burke-class (Flight II) Aegis guided missile destroyer). China’s third aircraft carrier, Fujian, which is still in trials at sea, also passed through the strait earlier on that same day.
This passage falls in line with the shipping lanes of Canadian and Aussie warships in the same space in recent days passing through recent days. The US and its allies — including Canada, Britain and France conduct such operations monthly, with the intent of asserting freedom of navigation in what they perceive to be international waters.
Rising Regional Tensions. China claims Taiwan as its territory, which Taipei has denied, and considers the Taiwan Strait to be part of its territorial waters.
In the past five years, Beijing has stepped up military pressure on the island, conducting frequent war games in its proximity.
Taiwan’s senior China policymaker and leader of its Mainland Affairs Council, Chiu Chui-cheng, in Washington warned that China is preparing for an invasion of Taiwan and warned that the fall of Taiwan could trigger a regional “domino effect” that would endanger the United States’ security.
Meanwhile, Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, condemned China’s “destabilizing plans” in the South China Sea, adding to international interest in Beijing’s assertive military posture there.
Implications. The passage of ships such as the passing of HMS Richmond and USS Higgins through the Taiwan Strait between China, Taiwan and their closest Asian countries, and USS Higgins reveals how hostilities between China, Taiwan, and the West continue between the U.S. and other Western allies.
These daily efforts to navigate around the Taiwan Strait are a striking expression of the principles of freedom of navigation and a testament to the tension over military and diplomatic security with the Asia-Pacific countries to the hard line the Asia-Pacific as it applies in practice.
The international community will be watching closely China’s next moves as anything out of the script could have severe consequences for regional security and for global trade routes.