Beijing’s imposition of the Hong Kong National Security Law and a number of other democratic and human rights issues continue to strain relations between the UK and China. The tense situation has significantly decreased the likelihood of British Royal Navy ships being able to continue their practice of docking in Hong Kong’s harbor for resupply — a not altogether unpredictable development.
In a Nov. 19 online speech to parliament, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier would next year lead a British and allied task group to the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and East Asia.
Johnson also said that the task group could take part in joint exercises with US and Japanese forces, as well as freedom of navigation operations.
The unstated intention is clearly to challenge China’s excessive sovereignty claims in the region. Observers also believe the deployment is intended to send a message to Beijing following the increasing political crackdown on Hong Kong and the imposition of the new national security legislation.
The UK government views these actions as breaches of the Sino-British Joint Declaration that came into force in 1997 and included guarantees that Hong Kong’s independent political and economic system would remain unchanged for 50 years.
Many British politicians have criticized Beijing’s actions, and the UK government has said it would provide a path toward UK citizenship for the almost 3 million Hong Kongers eligible to apply for a British National Overseas passport.
According to the Japanese Web site Nikkei Asia, the UK government’s decision to dispatch a carrier group task force to East Asia might be intended to send a powerful message to Beijing about the above issues.
The HMS Queen Elizabeth is the Royal Navy’s largest warship and has the capacity to carry 40 aircraft, and its hydraulic lifts can send four aircraft up from the hangars to the flight deck within one minute.
On a standard deployment the carrier sets sail with a squadron of 14 F-35B stealth fighters and eight helicopters.
The Taiwan-administered Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) are perfectly positioned as a midway stopping point for the British carrier group as it navigates the South China Sea before making a port call in Japan, and it could provide the task group with provisions and water. It would also provide a significant diplomatic breakthrough for Taiwan.
The US Senate’s passing of the National Defense Authorization Act provides the basis for reciprocal port calls by ships of the US’ and Taiwan’s navies. The act demonstrates the continued geostrategic value Washington places on Taiwan, due to its pivotal location in the first island chain.
The US wants to carry out freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea from its bases in Japan, but regardless of from which base they set out, they will have to sail for thousands of kilometers.
Although military vessels are able to operate without interruption, a resupply port along the route would be needed to replenish food and water supplies for the crews.
If further exchanges are initiated on a humanitarian aid basis, perhaps even allowing the British aircraft carrier to make a port call at Kaohsiung, China would not be able to do anything about it.
Taiwan could really make good use of the situation by adopting a more flexible international strategy. Any US warship calling at a Taiwanese port would draw a strong reaction from China, but it has never opposed visits by British ships.
I had hoped that the visit by Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil would cause a political reaction allowing the government to initiate further exchanges with European countries.
After all, as Vystrcil said: “Please be reminded that freedom, truth and justice are also your best armor... Please try your best to defend, and keep your sword and armor.”
Chang Feng-lin is a university lecturer.
Translated by Edward Jones and Perry Svensson
If social media interaction is any yardstick, India remained one of the top countries for Taiwan last year. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has on several occasions expressed enthusiasm to strengthen cooperation with India, one of the 18 target nations in her administration’s New Southbound Policy. The past year was instrumental in fostering Taiwan-India ties and will be remembered for accelerated momentum in bilateral relations. However, most of it has been confined to civil society circles. Even though Taiwan launched its southbound policy in 2016, the potential of Taiwan-India engagement remains underutilized. It is crucial to identify what is obstructing greater momentum
In terms of the economic outlook for the semiconductor industry, Taiwan has outperformed the rest of the world for three consecutive years. This is quite rare. In addition, Taiwan has been playing an important role in the US-China technology dispute, and both want Taiwan on their side, reflecting the remaking of the nation’s semiconductor industry. Under the leadership of — above all — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the industry as a whole has shifted from a focus on capacity to a focus on quality, as companies now have to be able to provide integration of hardware and software, as well as
US President Joe Biden’s foreign policy on China and the Indo-Pacific region will have huge repercussions for Taiwan. The US Department of State in the final weeks of former US president Donald Trump’s term took several actions clearly aimed to push Biden’s foreign policy to build on Trump’s achievements. Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s announcement on the final day of the Trump administration that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was committing “genocide and crimes against humanity” in Xinjiang was welcome, but comes far too late. The recent dropping of “self-imposed” restrictions on meetings between Taiwanese and US officials was
In memory of Diane Baker: one of the last working dance journalists, a true dance aficionado and dear friend. On Friday, through a mutual friend, I received the shocking news that dance critic Diane Baker had passed away suddenly at her apartment in Tianmu, Taipei. The news quickly spread, and messages of concern quickly swarmed in from the dance community in Taiwan and abroad. Her sister Sharon in the US later confirmed that Diane died of a heart attack on Wednesday last week. She was 65. Diane was a dear friend to Taiwan’s dance community. Her frequent appearance at dance performances in
RSS