China accuses Britain of 'troublemaking' after warship sailed through Taiwan strait

China's military has condemned a British warship that sailed through the Taiwan Strait for deliberately 'causing trouble' as Taiwan's president ordered stepped-up monitoring in response to Chinese military activities.

Britain's Royal Navy said the patrol vessel HMS Spey conducted a routine navigation through the narrow waterway that was part of a long-planned deployment and took place in full compliance with international law.

China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, considers the strait to be Chinese waters, while Taiwan, the United States and many of its allies say it is an international waterway.

The Eastern Theatre Command of China's People's Liberation Army said the Wednesday sailing of the ship was 'public hyping' and that its forces followed and monitored the Spey.

'The British side's remarks distort legal principles and mislead the public; its actions deliberately cause trouble and disrupt things, undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,' it said in a statement.

'Troops in the theatre are on high alert at all times and will resolutely counter all threats and provocations.'

China in response sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early Friday, 61 of which crossed the central line in the Taiwan Strait that unofficially divides the sides in a menacing show of strength.

On Friday morning, Taiwan's defence ministry reported another spike in Chinese movements close to the island involving 50 aircraft, concentrated in the strait and the top part of the South China Sea.

Britain's Royal Navy said the patrol vessel HMS Spey conducted a routine navigation through the narrow waterway that was part of a long-planned deployment and took place in full compliance with international law

China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early Friday, 61 of which crossed the central line in the Taiwan Strait that unofficially divides the sides in a menacing show of strength

Chinese troops from the People's Liberation Army are seen patrolling with the Chinese flag on an exercise

Taiwan's government welcomed the sailing of the Royal Navy vessel.

'The foreign ministry welcomes and affirms the British side once again taking concrete actions to defend the freedom of navigation in the Taiwan Strait, demonstrating its firm position that the Taiwan Strait is international waters,' the ministry said in a statement.

China has over the past five years stepped up its drills around Taiwan, including staging war games that have alarmed Taipei, Washington and Tokyo. 

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on Thursday ordered defence and security units to step up their monitoring and intelligence efforts in response to China's military activities, which he said have not abated even as tensions rise in the Middle East.

The last time a British warship sailed through the strait was in 2021, when HMS Richmond was deployed in the East China Sea en route to Vietnam. 

Chinese military followed it at the time and warned it away.

The latest passage comes at a time when Britain and China are seeking to mend their relations, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer expected to visit Beijing later this year - the first trip to the country by a British leader since 2018.

US Navy ships sail through the strait around once every two months, sometimes accompanied by allied nations.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), headed by authoritarian president Xi Jinping , sees Taiwan as a renegade province to be brought back under Beijing 's control, by force if necessary

Taiwan is a small island adrift in the South China Sea roughly 100 kilometres off China's southeastern shores, positioned at the crossroads of East Asia.

Measuring just 36,000 square kilometres, Taiwan is roughly 1/25th the size of mainland China, or about half the size of Scotland - but it is a territory of immense strategic and economic importance.

The island is a manufacturing and technological powerhouse that occupies a critical part of the global supply chain.

Taiwan is also an integral member of the 'first island chain', a ring of territories running from Japan to the Philippines, each of which is to some degree allied with the US to form a natural barrier against Chinese military expansion into the Pacific. 

The Taiwan Strait - a narrow waterway separating the island from mainland China - connects the Indian and Pacific Oceans and constitutes the shortest shipping route between East Asia and the Middle East on which China's export economy is heavily dependent. 

Beijing is acutely aware of this vulnerability, fearing that a US blockade of the strait could deal a punishing blow to its economy, and is quick to denounce any sailing of Western naval vessels through the Strait.