Australian and British vessels this week conducted a freedom of navigation operation in the disputed South China Sea, in an attempt to push back against China’s expansive claims over the vital waterway.
On Tuesday, the United Kingdom’s Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) announced the operation in a post on X. It stated that HMS Spey of the Royal Navy and HMAS Sydney of the Royal Australian Navy had undertaken the operation in order to assert rights to free navigation under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
“HMS SPEY and HMAS SYDNEY have just conducted Freedom of Navigation Activity around the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, in accordance with UNCLOS,” PJHQ said.
The Spratly Islands, which are claimed in whole or in part by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei, include some of the most hotly contested features in the South China Sea. Over the past few years, they have seen a string of recent dangerous confrontations as Chinese coast guard and navy vessels have asserted Beijing’s expansive claims in the vital waterway, particularly in areas claimed by the Philippines.
This week’s joint operation reflects Canberra’s and London’s shared concerns about China’s growing maritime power and assertiveness, in the South China Sea and beyond. Both nations have taken part in numerous operations in the South China Sea, both separately and with partners. Both nations took part in a “coordinated maneuvering exercise” with the U.S. Navy in February.
ABC News quoted Euan Graham of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute as saying that this was seemingly the first time that Australia and the U.K. had conducted a publicly flagged freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea by themselves.
The HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel bearing World War II-era “dazzle paint” camouflage, has been on an unusual five-year deployment across the Indian and Pacific oceans since 2021, along with its sister ship, HMS Tamar. In May, HMS Spey participated in joint exercises with the U.S., Australia, Japan, and South Korea in waters around Japan and the disputed East China Sea. It then sailed south and transited the Taiwan Strait on June 18, the first such passage of a British naval vessel since the frigate HMS Richmond in September 2021. China condemned the passage, describing it as a “deliberate provocation.”
The ship’s deployment began shortly after the publication in 2021 of the U.K. government’s Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy. This recommended that the country “tilt” its focus to the “Indo-Pacific” region in response to China’s “increasing international assertiveness.” It also pledged the U.K. to “pursue deeper engagement in the Indo-Pacific in support of shared prosperity and regional stability, with stronger diplomatic and trading ties.”
U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Parliament on Tuesday that the Royal Navy was expected to take part in more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea in the future.
Australia, too, has begun taking a more assertive role in Asian waters, as China begins to assert its naval power further and further from home. Earlier this year, a group of warships from the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) conducted a protracted partial circumnavigation of the Australian mainland, raising alarms within the Australian security establishment.
Graham told the ABC that the South China Sea operation communicated that China’s growing assertiveness would not deter Australia from operating in the South China Sea.
“There’s a sense that Australia is stepping up its game and being present (in the South China Sea) at a time when China’s navy is exerting its presence close to Australia,” he told the broadcaster.
The Australian Defense Forces have not yet commented on the freedom of navigation operation, but the Department of Defense previously announced that the HMAS Sydney would embark on a deployment from late March until early July. During this, it will sail throughout the Indo-Pacific… to conduct training, exercises and other engagements with regional navies.” In April, the vessel took part in Exercise Bersama Shield, along with Malaysia, Singapore, the U.K., and New Zealand. The following month, HMAS Sydney took part in a “multilateral maritime cooperative activity” within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone in the South China Sea, along with vessels from the Philippine and U.S. navies.
According to the British government, HMAS Sydney and HMS Spey will now sail to Singapore, where they will meet with the Royal Navy’s carrier Prince of Wales and a Strike Group that includes vessels from the U.K., Canada, Norway, New Zealand and Spain, the ABC reported. In mid-July, the Carrier Strike Group will take part in Operation Talisman Sabre, a joint military exercise involving 19 nations that will be held in the waters of Australia’s Northern Territory.