SYDNEY • Britain plans to send a warship to the disputed South China Sea next year to conduct freedom of navigation exercises, said Defence Secretary Michael Fallon yesterday, in a move that is likely to anger Beijing..
SYDNEY • Britain plans to send a warship to the disputed South China Sea next year to conduct freedom of navigation exercises, said Defence Secretary Michael Fallon yesterday, in a move that is likely to anger Beijing.
Britain would increase its presence in the waters, after having sent four British fighter planes for joint exercises with Japan in the region last year, said Mr Fallon.
China claims most of the energy-rich sea, where other Asian countries – Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam – also have claims.
“We hope to send a warship to the region next year, ” Mr Fallon told Reuters.
“We have not finalised exactly where that deployment will take place, but we won’t be constrained by China from sailing through the South China Sea.
“We have the right of freedom of navigation, and we will exercise it.”
The presence of a British vessel could stoke tensions already escalated by China’s naval build-up and its increasingly assertive stance.
China’s construction of islands and military facilities in the South China Sea has drawn international condemnation, amid concern that Beijing could be seeking to restrict free movement and extend its strategic reach.
