Overview
- Royal Navy officers reported Chinese fighter jets conducted 'constructive kill' runs on HMS Richmond in the Taiwan Strait earlier this month.
- HMS Richmond sailed with the US destroyer USS Higgins as China’s Eastern Theater Command said it deployed units to closely follow and condemned the passage as provocation.
- Chinese ships shadowed the carrier HMS Prince of Wales as the UK Carrier Strike Group transited near the Spratly Islands during Operation Highmast.
- Royal Navy personnel described the interactions as professional information warfare training with no expectation of live missile fire, and a Chinese Z-10 shadowed Richmond’s Merlin helicopter.
- UK officials cite freedom of navigation and international rules, while Chinese officials say their activities comply with law and that the sailings undermine regional stability.