UK Royal Navy vessel sails through Taiwan Strait

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LONDON (Reuters) -A British Royal Navy patrol vessel has sailed through the Taiwan Strait, a Navy spokesperson said on Thursday, saying the passage complied with international law.

“HMS Spey’s routine navigation through the Taiwan Strait was part of a long-planned deployment and took place in full compliance with international law,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

While Britain’s Ministry of Defence did not say when the passage took place, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it happened on Wednesday.

“The foreign ministry welcomes and affirms the British side once again taking concrete actions to defend the freedom of navigation in the Taiwan Strait, demonstrating its firm position that the Taiwan Strait is international waters,” the ministry said.

While China’s government has not yet commented, its state-backed Global Times newspaper said the Chinese military tracked the ship as it passed through the strait on Wednesday.

China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, says the strategic waterway belongs to it. Taiwan’s government, which rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, says it is an international waterway.

The last time a British warship sailed through the strait was in 2021, when HMS Richmond was deployed in the East China Sea en route to Vietnam. Chinese military followed it at the time and warned it away.

The latest passage comes at a time when Britain and China are seeking to mend their relations, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer expected to visit Beijing later this year – the first trip to the country by a British leader since 2018.

U.S. Navy ships sail through the strait around once every two months, sometimes accompanied by allied nations.

(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; editing by William James, Alexandra Hudson and Himani Sarkar)