Royal Navy offshore patrol vessel HMS Spey transited the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, 18 June, in a move confirmed by both UK and Taiwanese authorities.
The British Office in Taipei stated that Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, “conducted a navigation of the Taiwan Strait” in accordance with international law and rights provided under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). “Wherever the Royal Navy operates, it does so in full compliance with international law and exercises its right to Freedom of Navigation and overflight,” the statement added.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the move, describing it as a reaffirmation of the UK’s commitment to the principle that the Taiwan Strait constitutes international waters. The ministry said Britain had once again “defended freedom of navigation in the Taiwan Strait with practical actions and demonstrated its firm position that the Taiwan Strait belongs to international waters.”
This marks the first Royal Navy transit of the strait since 2021, when HMS Richmond passed through en route from Japan to Vietnam as part of the UK Carrier Strike Group. That transit was met with condemnation from Beijing, which deployed military forces to track and monitor the ship.
China has again condemned the UK’s actions, with its ambassador to the UK stating previously:
“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, international law, as determined by a 2016 ruling from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, rejected China’s expansive territorial claims, deeming them without legal foundation. The ruling reaffirmed that the South China Sea is governed by international maritime laws, 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 UK’s participation in freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs), including those by HMS Spey, is a direct challenge to what many allies view as unlawful maritime claims.
By carrying out these operations, HMS Spey and other allied vessels reinforce the rules-based international order at sea, demonstrating that no single nation can dominate international waters or unlawfully restrict navigation.
The latest transit comes amid a broader uptick in allied naval activity in the region. Earlier this year, warships from Canada, the United States, and Germany also passed through the Taiwan Strait. Such operations are viewed by like-minded countries as essential to preserving peace, stability, and free navigation in the Indo-Pacific.
The mouse that Roared! Well done, HMS Spey
In other news. I urge everyone who supports this forum to have a listen to the Sky News/Tortoise Wargame podcast. It makes for very sobering listening. The wargame is broken down in to 4 parts.
The scenario is that Russia uses a false flag event to attack the UK. The attack is a combination of ballistic and cruise missile strikes on key military targets. The podcast follows decisions made in Cobra and PJHQ from the false flag event and the events that follow. The Wargame also follows what the “Red Team” does.
“You couldn’t make it up”.
I tried. Couldn’t get on it.
Found it and listened to the first 10minutes. I will listen to the rest over the coming days.
I used to run a similar conference wargame when I was a defence analyst but it was set at the Joint Operational Level and we were looking and equipment capabilities… I was white team… So I am interested to see how it unfolds, not that’s for sure.
Cheers CR
The cast of The Wargame. (L-R) General Sir Richard Barrons, Amber Rudd, Deborah Haynes, Baroness Helena Kennedy, James Heappey, Sir Ben Wallace, Lord Mark Sedwill, Jack Straw, Victoria Mackarness, Jim Murphy, Rob Johnson
Wow. What a cast! I’ve fired it up and am settling down for a good listen.
As the world gets increasingly dangerous have the govt/ MoD announced any new capabilities being bought yet – any new GBAD, fast jets, capabilities for the Bacchante Class (type 31), a new IFV?
No
Meanwhile let’s send a barely armed ‘ship’ through contested waters claimed by a superpower….what were they thinking? They’re lucky she wasn’t surrounded, seized and impounded.
This asset is wasted in the Pacific and her crew are needed here to crew the few t23s we have (as apparently we don’t have enough to man Argyle)!
Met Keir Giles in Latvia. Solid bloke.
Not to be critical but it’s a misleading headline. It’s not a warship.
What utter tosh!!!
George, you keep doing this, trotting out the same tired Chinese embassy quote, totally out of context, that has nothing to do with British ships in the Taiwan straits. You have done this several times before and every single time it was out of context. It’s bad enough when you use a dodgy headline (like the CSG is in the Pacific rather than the Indo-Pacific), but when the entire thrust of the article is without published foundation, you open yourself to charges of just making stuff up. I don’t know why you keep trotting out this same old line. If there’s real substance to the claim the Chinese are threatening the UK, publish what was said and by whom. Otherwise stop it! It’s beneath you.
HMS Spey navigated the Taiwan Straits and China said nothing, just like we say nothing when a Russian ship goes though the Channel. Right?
Russia is also navigating in baltic sea , international waters , yet estonia somehow made it legal to them selves to to target any russian ship in those waters , commercial or non commercial , yet here we are .. hypocrisy.