The Chinese army has called the recent route of a British warship “deliberately provoking” through the Taiwan Strait that “reduces peace and stability”.
The British Royal Navy says HMS spy patrol on Wednesday was part of a long -term planned deployment and was in accordance with international law.
Patrol – The first by a British Navy vessel in four years comes as a UK carrier strike group that comes for a deployment in the region that will last for several months.
China considers Taiwan as its territory – a claim that self -conscious Taiwan has rejected – and has not denied the use of force to “reunite” the island.
China has criticized the UK to “publicly hypnotize” the visit to the HMS Spay, and said the UK claims were “distortion of legal principles and attempts to mislead the public”.
“Such tasks are deliberately provoking the situation and reduces peace and stability in Taiwan Strait”.
It stated that it monitored HMS spy during its visit to Strait, and the Chinese soldiers “will fully counter all dangers and provocative”.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, has praised patrolling as an Act that protected the freedom of navigation in Taiwan Strait.
While the American warship regularly conducts the freedom of navigation exercises in the Strait, such a journey was last performed by a British naval vessel, in 2021 when the warship HMS Richmond was posted in Vietnam.
The transit was equally condemned by China, which sent soldiers to monitor the ship.
HMS spy is permanently one of the two British warships on patrolling in Indo-Pacific.
Its route through Taiwan Strait comes as the UK carrier strike group, headed by the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier, in the Indo-Pacific region for an eight-month term.
The British PM Keer Stmper described it as one of the largest deployment of the carrier in this century, “aims to send a clear message of strength to our opponents, and the message of unity and purpose for our colleagues”.
Around 4,000 UK military personnel are participating in the deployment.
The group will engage with 30 countries through military operations and visits, and is practicing with the US, India, Singapore and Malaysia.
The cross-strategic tension between China and Taiwan has increased in the last one year as Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-Te, who was the champion on a firm anti-opposing attitude, took over.
He has portrayed Beijing as a “foreign hostile force” and introduced the policies targeting Chinese effect operations in Taiwan.
Meanwhile, China continued to conduct military exercises in Taiwan Strait, including a live-fire exercise in April that it claimed fake attacks on major ports and energy facilities.
China’s latest criticism of transit of HMS spy comes when two Chinese aircraft carriers operate a military drill together in Japan’s Pacific region together, which has worried Tokyo.
