China’s military has called a British warship’s recent passage through the Taiwan Strait an act of “intentional provocation” that “undermines peace and stability” in the contested waterway.
The British Royal Navy says the HMS Spey’s patrol was part of a long-planned deployment and was in accordance with international law.
Wednesday’s transit – the first by a British naval vessel in four years – comes as a UK carrier strike group arrives in the region for a deployment that will last several months.
China considers Taiwan its territory – a claim that self-ruled Taiwan rejects – and has not ruled out the use of force to “reunify” the island.
China has criticised the UK for “publicly hyping up” the journey of the HMS Spey, and said the UK’s claims were “a distortion of legal principles and an attempt to mislead the public”.
It added that it had monitored HMS Spey throughout its journey in the strait. China’s “theater command troops are on high alert at all times and will resolutely counter all threats and provocations”, it said.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry has meanwhile praised the transit as an act that safeguarded the freedom of navigation in the Taiwan Strait.
While American warships regularly conduct freedom of navigation exercises in the strait, the last time such a journey was undertaken by a British naval vessel was in 2021 when the warship HMS Richmond was deployed to Vietnam.
That transit was similarly condemned by China, which had sent troops to monitor the ship.
The HMS Spey is one of two British warships permanently on patrol in the Indo-Pacific.
Its passage through the Taiwan Strait comes as a UK carrier strike group, led by the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier, arrives in the Indo-Pacific region for an eight-month stint.
British PM Keir Starmer has described it as one of the carrier’s largest deployments this century that is aimed at “sending a clear message of strength to our adversaries, and a message of unity and purpose to our allies”.
Around 4,000 UK military personnel are taking part in the deployment.
The group will be engaging with 30 countries through military operations and visits, and conduct exercises with the US, India, Singapore and Malaysia.
Cross-strait tensions between China and Taiwan have heightened over the past year since Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, who champions a firm anti-Beijing stance, took office.
He has characterised Beijing as a “foreign hostile force” and introduced policies targeting Chinese influence operations in Taiwan.
Meanwhile, China continues to conduct frequent military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, including a live-fire exercise in April that it claimed simulated strikes on key ports and energy facilities.
China’s latest criticism of the HMS Spey’s transit comes as two Chinese aircraft carriers conduct an unprecedented simultaneous military drill in the Pacific off the waters of Japan, which has alarmed Tokyo.
