A British warship crossed the Taiwan Strait on Monday (September 27th), the Royal Navy said, a ride in controversial waters rare for a non-US ship and which should strain relations with Beijing.
The announcement was made on the Twitter account of HMS Richmond, a frigate deployed with the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth attack group.
"
After a busy period of work with our partners and allies in the East China Sea, we are now en route across the Taiwan Strait to visit Vietnam and the Vietnam People's Navy
," the tweet said.
Regular American ships
It is, according to local media, the first British warship to pass through the Strait, also known as Formosa, which separates Taiwan from mainland China.
In 2019, a British Navy surveillance vessel had taken this route.
Read alsoThe Taiwan Strait, the perfect theater for the next world war
US ships regularly conduct “
freedom of navigation
”
exercises
on this seaway, eliciting angry responses from Beijing, which claims Taiwan and the surrounding waters as under its sovereignty, as well as much of the South China Sea.
But the United States and most other countries consider the area to be international waters that must be open to all ships.
Until recently, the controversial crossings of the Strait were primarily the work of the United States Navy.
But as Beijing intensifies its military threats against Taiwan, more and more countries are taking this route.
French, Canadian and Australian warships have thus provoked Beijing's ire in recent years by sailing between mainland China and Taiwan.
Beijing's constant threat
Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng confirmed to reporters the passage of a foreign ship, without specifying his country of origin.
The UK Ministry of Defense did not respond to requests for comment on the announcement.
Taiwan and its 23 million inhabitants live under the constant threat of an invasion by the communist regime in Beijing, which has vowed to retake the island, by force if necessary.
The military, diplomatic and economic pressure exerted by mainland China has increased since the election in 2016 of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who sees the island as "
already independent
" and not as part of "one
China.
".
China's fighter jets carried out a record 380 forays into Taiwan's defense area last year, and those incursions have already surpassed 400 in the first eight months of 2021.
