The British are determined to continue the behavior that led to the June 23 incident in the Black Sea involving the HMS Defender. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab promised yesterday that there’ll be more such provocations not just against Russia but — since the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier will be sailing on to the South China Sea after it’s done with Russia and Syria — also against China. He told the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee that he has warned Chinese leaders to expect a Navy flotilla in the disputed South China Sea, reported the Mirror tabloid. “It’s absolutely right we exercise and defend the rights, and we do so from the Ukrainian territorial sea to the South China Sea,” he said.
Quizzed about the June 23 incident by MPs, Raab said: “HMS Defender was taking the shortest and most direct route, it’s an internationally recognized traffic route. We have got every right to conduct innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters, in accordance with international law. That’s what we will continue to do.”
