Freedom of navigation is one of the international principles that keeps our planet running. The sea connects everything, and almost all of our trade comes and goes on it. Freedom of navigation and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) which defines it, is therefore a fundamental part of that fluid, never-ending organism on which we depend. Deny it, or break it, and our economies are at risk.
China in particular has long attempted to deny this fundamental principle on which so much depends, and much of the rest of international maritime law as well. Beijing’s infamous “Nine Dash Line” claim to own most of the South China Sea was rejected at the Hague, but it nonetheless acts as if the claim were reality. Chinese warships and coastguard vessels harass, ride off, dazzle and irradiate ships of neighbouring countries every day, and were so aggressive in pursuing a Philippine supply ship recently that a Chinese destroyer smashed off the bow of a Chinese coastguard cutter pursuing the same target, killing several sailors. China also persistently acts as though it has some right to forbid foreign warships from going through the Taiwan Strait – another claim with no basis whatsoever in international law.
Today’s British government is normally slavishly adherent to international law, but there are exceptions. Reportedly the Foreign Office, led by David Lammy, is attempting to stop the Royal Navy from detaching a frigate from our Carrier Strike Group – currently in the Pacific – and sending it on a trip which would take it through the Taiwan Strait.
Planners in the Joint and Maritime Headquarters will be rolling their eyes now and saying something along the lines of, “Didn’t we brief this over a year ago, why is it flaring up now?”
Whenever we have a warship needing to go through the Taiwan Strait to get where it is going, we send it through. Not doing so is simply to accept that China is allowed to violate international law whenever it chooses. We sent HMS Spey, our Pacific show-the-flag patrol ship, through the Strait two months ago. It got China’s attention, of course it did, but there was barely a whisper here. That’s because it was Navy business-as-usual. But add the Strike Group to the equation and it suddenly becomes interesting to everyone, and quite late in the day it seems.
Freedom of navigation is one of the international principles that keeps our planet running. The sea connects everything, and almost all of our trade comes and goes on it. Freedom of navigation and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) which defines it, is therefore a fundamental part of that fluid, never-ending organism on which we depend. Deny it, or break it, and our economies are at risk.
China in particular has long attempted to deny this fundamental principle on which so much depends, and much of the rest of international maritime law as well. Beijing’s infamous “Nine Dash Line” claim to own most of the South China Sea was rejected at the Hague, but it nonetheless acts as if the claim were reality. Chinese warships and coastguard vessels harass, ride off, dazzle and irradiate ships of neighbouring countries every day, and were so aggressive in pursuing a Philippine supply ship recently that a Chinese destroyer smashed off the bow of a Chinese coastguard cutter pursuing the same target, killing several sailors. China also persistently acts as though it has some right to forbid foreign warships from going through the Taiwan Strait – another claim with no basis whatsoever in international law.
Today’s British government is normally slavishly adherent to international law, but there are exceptions. Reportedly the Foreign Office, led by David Lammy, is attempting to stop the Royal Navy from detaching a frigate from our Carrier Strike Group – currently in the Pacific – and sending it on a trip which would take it through the Taiwan Strait.
Planners in the Joint and Maritime Headquarters will be rolling their eyes now and saying something along the lines of, “Didn’t we brief this over a year ago, why is it flaring up now?”
Whenever we have a warship needing to go through the Taiwan Strait to get where it is going, we send it through. Not doing so is simply to accept that China is allowed to violate international law whenever it chooses. We sent HMS Spey, our Pacific show-the-flag patrol ship, through the Strait two months ago. It got China’s attention, of course it did, but there was barely a whisper here. That’s because it was Navy business-as-usual. But add the Strike Group to the equation and it suddenly becomes interesting to everyone, and quite late in the day it seems.