A Royal Navy frigate has sailed through the Taiwan Strait alongside a U.S. destroyer, ignoring warnings from Beijing that the transit amounted to provocation.
China’s Eastern Theater Command condemned the passage of HMS Richmond and USS Higgins, accusing them of “trouble-making and provocation.” The command said naval and air units were dispatched to monitor and issue warnings to the two ships.
The UK Ministry of Defence rejected the accusation, insisting the voyage was a routine exercise. “Wherever the Royal Navy operates, it does so in full compliance with international law and norms, and exercises freedom of navigation rights in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” the ministry said in a statement.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command echoed that position, stressing that “the ships transited through a corridor in the strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal state. Navigational rights and freedoms in the Taiwan Strait should not be limited.”
Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan and regards the Taiwan Strait as internal waters. This interpretation is rejected by most Western nations, which view the 110-mile-wide channel as an international waterway linking the East and South China Seas. By asserting control over the strait, China seeks to restrict the movement of foreign naval forces and to reinforce its claim over Taiwan itself.
Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs) are designed to challenge such claims. These transits demonstrate the willingness of navies like those of the U.S. and Britain to sail in areas they regard as international waters, sending a clear signal that excessive maritime claims will not go uncontested. FONOPs are carried out globally to push back against attempts to limit access to open seas.
The Taiwan Strait is particularly sensitive because it has become the symbolic front line of great power competition. For Washington, maintaining routine passage is about upholding the principle that no single nation can dictate access to such a vital waterway. UKDJ