LONDON – A British warship will sail from Australia through the disputedSouth China Sea next month to assert freedom of navigation rights, a seniorofficial said Tuesday in a move likely to irk Beijing.
China claims nearly all of the resource-rich waterway and has been turningreefs and islets into islands and installing military facilities such asrunways and equipment on them.
British Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said HMS Sutherland, ananti-submarine frigate, would arrive in Australia later this week.
“She’ll be sailing through the South China Sea (on the way home) and makingit clear our navy has a right to do that,” he told The Australian newspaperafter a two-day visit to Sydney and Canberra.
He would not say whether the frigate would sail within 12 nautical miles ofa disputed territory or artificial island built by the Chinese, as US shipshave done.
But he said: “We absolutely support the US approach on this, we very muchsupport what the US has been doing.”
In January, Beijing said it had dispatched a warship to drive away a USmissile destroyer which had “violated” its sovereignty by sailing close toa shoal in the sea.
Williamson said it was important that US allies such as Britain andAustralia “assert our values” in the South China Sea, which is believed tohold vast oil and gas deposits and through which US$5.0 trillion in tradepasses annually.
“World dynamics are shifting so greatly. The US can only concentrate on somany things at once,” he said.
“The US is looking for other countries to do more. This is a greatopportunity for the UK and Australia to do more, to exercise leadership.”
When asked on Tuesday about a possible freedom of navigation voyage by theBritish, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said all countrieshave “navigation and overflight freedom in the South China Sea”.
“We hope other countries will stop stirring up trouble,” Geng said.
China in December defended its construction on disputed islands, which arealso claimed by Southeast Asian neighbours, as “normal” after a US thinktank released new satellite images showing the deployment of radar andother equipment.
In a separate interview with broadcaster ABC, Williamson warned of the needfor vigilance to “any form of malign intent” from China, as it seeks tobecome a global superpower.
“Australia and Britain see China as a country of great opportunities, butwe shouldn’t be blind to the ambition that China has and we’ve got todefend our national security interests,” he said.
“We’ve got to ensure that any form of malign intent is countered and we seeincreasing challenges — it’s not just from China, it’s from Russia, it’sfrom Iran — and we’ve got to be constantly making sure that our securitymeasures, our critical national infrastructure is protected.”
Australia has been ratcheting up the rhetoric against China in recentmonths, with ties tested in December when parliament singled out Beijing asa focus of concern when it proposed laws on foreign interference. -APP/AFP