BEIJING – A leading Chinese newspaper has criticized Britain’s decision tosail one of its warships through the disputed South China Sea next month.
Media reports said on Wednesday that British Defense Secretary GavinWilliamson had said in remarks published a day earlier during a visit toAustralia that the UK was to send a warship through the South China Sea toassert Britain’s purported right to freedom of navigation.
Chinese newspaper The Global Timesreacted on Wednesday, saying Britain wastrying to grab attention by sending the military ship to the South ChinaSea, where territory is disputed between China and smaller neighbors,including Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
The widely read state-run tabloid demanded that British officials stateclearly the objective of the mission.
“If not provocation, the Royal Navy should behave modestly when passingthrough the South China Sea,” it said in editorials published in itsEnglish and Chinese-language editions. “By acting tough against China,Britain’s Ministry of Defense is trying to validate its existence and grabattention.”
The paper went on to question Britain’s military and financial power,asking whether the Royal Navy could actually complete the tour, consideringbudget cuts and problems with a new aircraft carrier that has a leak.
“As the Royal Navy has been hit by news such as a leaky aircraft carrierand the UK government has a tight budget, it appears a difficult missionfor the Royal Navy to come all this way to provoke China,” it wrote.This file photo, taken on August 16, 2017, shows people lining the shore towatch the leaking British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth docking atPortsmouth Harbor for repair. (By AFP)
China has repeatedly accused countries outside the region — the UnitedStates in particular — of trying to stir tensions in the South China Seaand exploit territorial disputes by sending warships there under thepretext of exercising self-proclaimed freedom of navigation rights.
This is while Beijing has been involved in peaceful diplomacy with itsneighbors to address the territorial disputes.
Billions of dollars in trade commodities pass through the South China Seaeach year.