In April, Tom Sharpe announced that the British Royal Navy had a duty to defend the freedom of navigation by using it, taking its ships to places where they might not be welcomed by one and all. Like the Taiwan Strait (The Telegraph, April 16, 2025).
“The Carrier Strike Group of the Royal Navy is about to set out on a trip to the Pacific,” Sharpe wrote. “One of the things we don’t yet know is exactly what routes the Strike Group—or parts of it—may follow. In particular we don’t know if the Group or elements of it will pass through the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait.”
This possible itinerary was important because the People’s Republic of China claims that most of the South China Sea belongs to itself and that the Taiwan Strait belongs to itself.
Freedom of navigation
“The international law of the sea disagrees, saying that most of the South China Sea and the Strait are international waters—the ‘high seas’. The principle of freedom of navigation applies, asserting that any ship of any nation has the right to pass through such waters without interference except in clearly defined circumstances such as vessels engaged in piracy or slave trading.”
But, added Sharpe, “Freedom of navigation is one of those things where if you don’t use it, you might lose it.” It must be relied upon in practice despite the bleating of uninjured parties.
Now, a couple of months later, the British are in the region and China is “Angered by British Warship Sailing as Taiwan Raises Alert Level” (gCaptain, June 20, 2025).
The British Royal Navy reported that one of its patrol vessels, the HMS Spey (shown above), “made a routine navigation through the narrow waterway as part of a long-planned deployment and in full compliance with international law.” It was also routine that the Chinese Communist Party would sulk about it.
According to the People’s Liberation Army: “The British side’s remarks distort legal principles and mislead the public; its actions deliberately cause trouble and disrupt things, undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
For the record, it must be pointed out that the HMS Spey did not fire on anybody.
A different view
In contrast, the foreign ministry of the Republic of China appreciates the excursion: “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.”
U.S. Navy ships also sail through the Taiwan Strait, but more often, once every couple of months. The British Navy was last here in 2021.
