Warship near disputed islands puts post-brexit deal at risk, says China
CHINA yesterday warned Britain that it had jeopardised post-brexit relations by sailing a warship close to islands in the South China Sea which are claimed by Beijing.
Britain has been working to boost trade with the world’s second-largest economy as Brexit looms, talking up a “golden era” in ties and the two nations agreed last month to look at the possibility of a post-brexit free-trade deal that, if struck, would be a key achievement for Theresa May, the Prime Minister.
However, after last week’s incident Hua Chunying, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, yesterday told the daily press briefing: “What the British side did is wrong...it will have a negative impact on the development of China-uk relations.”
Chinese state media specifically cautioned that a post-brexit trade deal was at stake. “China and the UK had agreed to actively explore the possibility of discussing a free-trade agreement after Brexit, but any act that harms China’s core interests will only put a spanner in the works,” said an English language editorial in China Daily, the state-run newspaper.
Britain’s decision to send a warship into contested waters was a move to “curry favour with the United States,” said the editorial.
“But by trying to revive the ‘special relationship’ in this way, now it is no longer the gateway to continental Europe, the UK risks losing more than it can gain,” it warned.
HMS Albion, a 22,000 ton amphibious warship carrying a contingent of Royal Marines passed by the Paracel Islands on Aug 31, where it was confronted by the Chinese military. It was on its way to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where it docked on Monday after a deployment in and around Japan.
The Paracels have long been disputed and were the site of a major naval battle in the Seventies between China and Vietnam, after which Beijing claimed sovereignty. The group of more than 30 islands in the South China Sea are now occupied entirely by China.
Beijing has laid claim to other groups of disputed islands in the South China Sea, where roughly $3 trillion (£2.3 trillion) in trade passes through each year.
Mr Hua said the move “obviously runs counter to the consensus and spirit put forth by the leaders of our two countries that we are willing to join hands to build a ‘golden era’ of China-uk ties.”
Adding to the tension, China’s foreign ministry also said it was “ridiculous for the UK to pose as a ‘supervisor’”, and that Britain should stop interfering in Hong Kong, a former British colony.
The comments came after the UK issued its latest bi-annual report on the special administrative region.
In it, Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, noted the “growing concern about the extent of freedom of speech in Hong Kong, particularly in the context of discussion of independence”, while also stating that Britain does not think independence is realistic or desirable.
China said the issue of independence had nothing to do with freedom of speech and was a violation of China’s constitution and Hong Kong law.
“It fundamentally is not within the scope of freedom of expression,” the ministry said. “The central government has zero tolerance for ‘Hong Kong independence’ and will never indulge it.”