Great Britain FONOPS - HMS Richmond in the East China Sea

There, where usually grey ships with the "Star-Spangled Banner" in their tops are FONOPS (Freedom of Navigation Operations) and regularly provoke biting accusations from Beijing - in the almost 70 nautical miles wide strait between the island of Taiwan and the Chinese mainland - a British frigate was seen there for the first time since 2008. HMS RICHMOND of the now thirty-year-old DUKE class (Type 23) passed through the area on Monday on her way out of the East China Sea for a planned visit to the Vietnamese navy, as she announced on Twitter. The 4,000-tonne frigate had been participating in the United Nations' embargo operation against North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile production programmes, which has been running since 2017, and had been reconnoitring and monitoring the movement of fuel and petroleum products to the north of the peninsula.

HMS RICHMOND belongs to the British Carrier Strike Group 21, which is still in the Pacific theatre of operations under the command of HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH. As if by coincidence, the strategic AUKUS security alliance was launched by the three partners Australia, the United Kingdom (UK) and the USA. In its trilateral exclusivity, it is intended to coordinate state-of-the-art weapons technology in the Indo-Pacific region and send a bold signal throughout the region. This passage has made it clear that free sea passages in international waters do not contradict the applicable rules and that the implementation of FONOPS will be an integral part of the behaviour of the three alliance partners. As was to be expected, China's immediate reaction was to insinuate "bad intentions", as it not only claims sovereignty over the Taiwan Strait, but also over the entire island, and of course over the entire South China Sea. 2000 HMS Richmond

Text: Axel Stephenson

Understanding #me: Freedom of navigation (FON) is a principle of customary international law. Ships sailing under the flag of a sovereign state may not be obstructed by other states. Apart from the exceptions provided for in international law. In international law, it has been defined as "freedom of movement for ships, freedom to enter harbours and use facilities and docks, to load and unload cargo, and to carry goods and passengers." (Source Wikipedia)