Royal Navy offshore patrol vessel HMS Spey has exercised navigation rights and freedoms around the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, the UK Permanent Joint Headquarters has confirmed, the latest in a series of freedom of navigation operations carried out by the vessel in the region.
Defence Operations, the official PJHQ social media account, confirmed the operation on 5 May 2026, stating that HMS Spey had exercised navigation rights and freedoms around the Spratly Islands in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and that the UK was committed to international law and to upholding a free, open and stable South China Sea.
The operation follows a series of sailings by HMS Spey in 2025. In June of that year, the vessel made the first Royal Navy transit of the Taiwan Strait since 2021, drawing a sharp response from Beijing.
Senior Captain Liu Runke, spokesperson for the PLA Eastern Theatre Command Navy, stated in an official release published on the Chinese Ministry of National Defence website that the UK’s remarks had distorted legal principles and confused the public, and that the transit was deliberately intended to disrupt the situation and undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, adding that troops remained on high alert and would resolutely counter all threats and provocations.
Days later, HMS Spey conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation around the Spratly Islands alongside HMAS Sydney of the Royal Australian Navy, again drawing condemnation from Beijing.
China’s ambassador to the UK had previously warned that the UK’s position on the South China Sea arbitration would not shake China’s resolve, saying: “I would like to remind the UK side that China’s rights and interests in the South China Sea have been established in the long course of history and have solid and legal basis. The UK’s picking on China by making an issue of the ‘award’ of the South China Sea arbitration, which is illegal, null and void, will not shake China’s firm resolve and staunch will to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.”
However, the 2016 ruling from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague rejected China’s expansive territorial claims as without legal foundation, reaffirming that the South China Sea is governed by international maritime law including the principle of freedom of navigation. Despite that ruling, China continues to assert control over large parts of the region, overlapping with the exclusive economic zones of several Southeast Asian nations.
The Spratly Islands are among the most contested places in the South China Sea, claimed in whole or in part by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, and have been the scene of a series of dangerous confrontations in recent years as Chinese coast guard and navy vessels have asserted Beijing’s expansive claims in the waterway.
I bet the PLAN shit themselves when she steamed on through.
Definitely not but it still upsets them😀
That crying was more likely, laughing 🤣
It will be interesting to see what happens when the PLAN steam right up to Diego Garcia and neither we or the US have any ability to stop them as the islands are not recognised as being british and we have no 12 mile limit.
I would love to know the Farrage s plan for that one, especially when we and the US frequently challenge Chinese islands in the South China Sea (although both the US and UK observe at 12 mile limit even thought it’s not official)