Yesterday, ships from the UK’s Carrier Strike Group performed an exercise with the Republic of Singapore Navy. The Chinese military will take necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interest as well as peace and stability in the South China Sea.” HMS Queen Elizabeth sailing with her Carrier Strike Group.īack at the start of the month, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told MPs that “It’s absolutely right we exercise and defend the rights, and we do so from the Ukrainian territorial sea to the South China Sea” after discussions on a British warship sailing through Ukrainian territory claimed by Russia. The real source of militarisation in the South China Sea comes from countries outside this region sending their warships thousands of kilometres from home to flex muscles. “The Chinese side believes that the South China Sea should not become a sea of great power rivalry dominated by weapons and warships. Territorial claims in the South China Seaīoth the US and UK have angered China previously by carrying out FONOPs in the South China Sea to assert rights to freedom of navigation.Ĭhinese defence spokesman Tan Kefei was quoted in the South China Morning Posas saying: The US, UK and Australia routinely conduct freedom of navigation operations (or FONOPs) to challenge what Washington calls “attempts by coastal states to unlawfully restrict access to the seas”.
However in an historic decision in 2016, the international tribunal in The Hague ruled against part of China’s claims to the sea. This line extends for 2,000 kilometers from the Chinese mainland, encompassing over half of the sea. Ĭhina claims almost all of the 1.3 million-square-mile South China Sea as its sovereign territory, and it has denounced the presence of foreign warships there as the root of tensions in the region.Ĭhina say that its claim to the sea is based both on the Law of the Sea Convention and its so-called ‘nine-dash’ line. HMS Queen Elizabeth and elements of her Carrier Strike Group have arrived in Singapore. The aircraft carrier and her escorts were recently in Singapore before entering the South China Sea. Aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth and her Carrier Strike Group have entered the South China Sea, a region largely claimed by China.