A British Royal Navy patrol vessel on Wednesday sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, adding that it welcomed the transit as affirmation that the UK is taking concrete action to safeguard freedom of navigation in the region.
Beijing claims jurisdiction over the body of water that separates it from Taiwan. The US and other countries view the 180km Strait as international waters that should be open to all vessels.
“The British Royal Navy patrol vessel HMS Spey sailed through the Taiwan Strait on June 18,” the ministry said in a statement. “The UK has once again taken concrete action to uphold freedom of navigation in the Taiwan Strait and demonstrate the firm position that the Taiwan Strait is international waters.”
Photo: Screen grab from the British Royal Navy’s Web site
Like-minded countries such as the UK are welcome to safeguard peace and stability in the Strait, promote freedom and openness in the Indo-Pacific region and maintain the rules-based international order, it added.
The British Office Taipei said in a separate statement that the HMS Spey operated in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Wherever the Royal Navy operates, it does so in full compliance with international law, it said, adding that the navy’s exercise of freedom of navigation in the Taiwan Strait is not unprecedented.
The last time a British naval vessel transited the Strait was in 2021, when the HMS Richmond, a frigate deployed with a British aircraft carrier strike group, sailed through from Japan to Vietnam. China condemned the UK at the time and deployed its military to follow the vessel.
A Canadian warship passed through the Strait in February, days after a US destroyer and a US ocean survey ship made the passage.
The Ministry of National Defense has been reporting near-daily sightings of Chinese warships around Taiwan’s waters, as well as sorties by drones and fighter jets.
It had detected 25 Chinese military aircraft and seven navy vessels in the 24 hours to 6am yesterday, it said.
In related news, MOFA in a statement condemned the inclusion of a false claim of Taiwan being a part of China in a joint declaration adopted by Beijing and five of its allies in Central Asia during a summit this week.
The foreign ministry condemns Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) outrageous remarks claiming Taiwan is an inseparable part of China during his attendance at the second China-Central Asia Summit in Astana, held from Monday to Wednesday, it said.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has used such public occasions of meeting with heads of state to undermine the status of the Republic of China as a sovereign country, the ministry said.
It also protested and condemned leaders and officials of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for echoing Beijing’s stance in the Astana Declaration signed by the six countries during the summit.
Neither the Republic of China nor the People’s Republic of China has been subordinate to the other, while the CCP regime has never governed Taiwan, including Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, MOFA said.
No country should seek to deny Taiwan’s existence by issuing a joint statement, it said.
It also urged the five Central Asian countries to stop backing Beijing’s statements that are intended to destabilize peace in the region.
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
RSS