The recent statements by senior UK ministers regarding the future deployment of British warships in the South China Sea provoked an inevitable response from China and speculation as to when these actions may actually take place.
The recent statements by senior UK ministers regarding the future deployment of British warships in the South China Sea provoked an inevitable response from China and speculation as to when these actions may actually take place.
But care needs to be exercised in reading too much into what has been said. Unlike the United States, the UK does not have a distinct freedom of navigation program.
For example, in December 2016, when the Asia Times sought a clarification from the British Embassy in Washington on this issue, the Embassy indicated that ‘the UK does not conduct freedom of navigation operations, although it will continue to exercise its right to navigate through internationally recognised air ways and international waters as needed’ .
The UK’s denial over conducting freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS) aligns with the recent statements by UK Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, and UK Defence Secretary, Sir Michael Falon, neither of whom directly mentioned FONOPS. In speaking about two new UK aircraft carriers that are expected to enter service by 2023, Boris Johnson said that ‘one of the first missions of our two vast new aircraft carriers will be to sail through the Straits of Malacca’ . Sir Michael Fallon was less precise, observing that ‘We haven’ t mapped out the initial deployments yet but, yes, you would expect to see these carriers in Indo-Pacific Ocean’ .
On any interpretation, 2020 is the earliest that one of the new UK carriers will be sighted in the Asia Pacific — and the South China Sea in particular — and a great deal can happen in the meantime. In this respect, the applicable international law relationships between China and the United States, and China and the UK, need to be understood.
