[ad_1]
(Reuters) – Beijing voiced anger on Thursday after a British Royal Navy warship sailed near China's claimed islands in southern China last month, saying Britain was in "provocation".
FILE PHOTO: Military vehicles were sighted on the loading dock of HMS Albion, the amphibious assault ship of the British Royal Navy, after the arrival of the ship at Harumi pier in Tokyo, Japan, the August 3, 2018. REUTERS / Toru Hanai
HMS Albion, a 22,000-ton amphibious warship carrying a contingent of Royal Marines, exercised its "freedom of navigation" rights near the Paracel Islands, two well-informed sources who asked not to be identified. Reuters.
Albion was en route to Ho Chi Minh City, where he docked on Monday after a deployment in Japan and surrounding areas.
One source said Beijing had sent a frigate and two helicopters to challenge the British ship, but both parties remained calm at the meeting.
The other source, the Albion, did not penetrate territorial waters around features of the disputed region, but demonstrated that Britain does not recognize the excessive maritime claims around the Paracel Islands. Twelve nautical miles is an internationally recognized territorial boundary.
The Paracels are fully occupied by China but also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry, in a statement sent by fax to Reuters, said the ship had unauthorized entry into Chinese territorial waters around the Paracel Islands on August 31 and that the Chinese navy had warned it to leave.
"The relevant actions of the British ship violated Chinese law and applicable international law and undermined China's sovereignty. China firmly opposes it and has presented severe representations to the British side to express its deep dissatisfaction, "the ministry said.
"China urges the British side to stop these acts of provocation immediately so as not to undermine the broader picture of bilateral relations and regional peace and stability," he added. .
"China will continue to take all necessary measures to defend its sovereignty and security."
The meeting comes at a delicate moment in relations between London and Beijing.
Britain is courting China for a post-Brexit free trade agreement, and both countries like to describe how they have a "golden age" in relations.
A spokesman for the Royal Navy said: "HMS Albion has exercised its rights to freedom of navigation in full compliance with international law and international standards."
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION
China's claims in the South China Sea, through which some $ 3 trillion in commercial transactions per boat are spent each year, are challenged by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. Britain has no territorial claim in the region.
While the US Navy has conducted Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOP) in the same area in the past, this British challenge to China's growing control over the strategic waterway comes after the United States has declared wish for greater international participation in such actions.
Britain and the United States claim to conduct FONOP operations around the world, including in areas claimed by their allies.
The British navy has already sailed near the Spratly Islands, further south in the South China Sea, several times in recent years, but not within 12 nautical miles, regional diplomatic sources said.
Ian Storey, an expert in the Singapore-based South China Sea, said that Britain had great interests in defending the freedom of navigation, but that its deployment in the South China Sea would be limited.
"The UK's actions will please Washington because the Trump administration has lamented that the US allies have failed to defend the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea," said Storey of Singapore's ISE.
"But China will be unhappy because it suggests that US allies respond to Washington's calls … It could also push other American allies to do the same."
The FONOPs have so far not persuaded Beijing to limit its activities in the South China Sea, including the rehabilitation of reefs and islands and the construction of runways, hangars and missile systems.
Beijing claims to have the right to build on its territories and says that the facilities are for civilian use and for self defense purposes necessary. China accuses Washington of militarizing the region with its patrols of freedom of navigation.
Foreign planes and ships in the area are routinely detained by Chinese warships and surveillance stations on fortified islands, according to earlier sources.
In April, Australia's warships – which, like Britain, are a close American ally – had what Canberra described as a close "encounter" with Chinese warships in the disputed sea .
Albion is one of three Royal Navy ships deployed in Asia this year, along with HMS Argyll and HMS Sutherland.
In a speech to Jakarta in August, Asia-Pacific Foreign Minister Mark Field said Britain was committed to ensuring sustainable security in Asia and urged countries to respect freedom. navigation and international law in the South China Sea.
This law included the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, whose historic judgment of 2016 criticized China's actions in the South China Sea and found no basis for its radical historical claims. Beijing repeatedly rejected the decision and previously refused to participate in the case brought by the Philippines.
Report by Tim Kelly. Additional report by Kylie MacLellan in LONDON, Ben Blanchard in BEIJING and Greg Torode in HONG KONG. Editing by Lincoln Feast.
