The British patrol ship HMS Spey, seen here near the Malay Peninsula in April 2025, passed through the Taiwan Strait on June 18, 2025. (British navy)
A British patrol ship passed through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, less than a week after a Japanese destroyer made a similar trip through the contentious waterway.
The offshore patrol vessel HMS Spey carried out the passage as part of a freedom-of-navigation operation that was welcomed by Taiwan, according to a Thursday statement from the self-governing, democratic island.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs encourages like-minded countries such as the United Kingdom to jointly safeguard peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region, and maintain a rules-based international order,” the statement said.
Beijing denounced the Spey’s passage as a “publicly hyped” stunt.
“The relevant remarks from the British side distorted the legal principles and confused the public,” China’s Eastern Theater Command said Friday on the social media platform Weibo. “Its actions deliberately disturbed the situation and undermined the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.”
China views Taiwan as breakaway province that must be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary. Beijing regularly condemns the passage of U.S. and allied warships through the 110-mile-wide channel that separates the two.
Meanwhile, The Associated Press reported Friday that China flew “an usually large number” of warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early Friday. Sixty-one of the 74 aircraft crossed the unofficial center line dividing the Taiwan Strait.
The Spey’s transit follows the June 12 passage of the Japanese destroyer JS Takanami through the Taiwan Strait. The vessel spent more than 10 hours sailing south from the East China Sea to the South China Sea, Kyodo News reported Friday.
Kyodo, citing anonymous diplomatic sources, reported that the Chinese military monitored the Takanami’s entire passage. As of Friday afternoon, China had not publicly commented on the matter.
Spokespeople for Japan’s Defense Ministry and Maritime Self-Defense Force declined to comment Friday, citing operational security.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani also declined to comment during a regular news conference Friday in Tokyo, saying the matter was “related to the operation of the Self-Defense Forces,” according to a video posted on the ministry’s website.
The Takanami’s trip marks the third time a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force vessel passed through the Taiwan Strait. In September, the destroyer JS Sazanami became the first Japanese warship to make the passage. In February, the destroyer JS Akizuki followed suit.
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer JS Takanami, seen here amid a replenishment-at-sea in 2022, passed through the Taiwan Strait on June 12, 2025. (Canadian Armed Forces)
The transits come amid rising regional tensions.
On June 7, a Chinese Shenyang J-15 fighter shadowed a Japanese P-3C patrol plane for 40 minutes. The following day, a similar scenario occurred for 80 minutes. The fighters came within 150 feet of the patrol aircraft in both instances, according to a June 11 news release from the Japanese defense ministry.
The J-15 was flying from the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong, which on June 9 entered Japan’s exclusive economic zone near Okinotorishima. Meanwhile, the Chinese carrier Liaoning was operating in Japanese EEZ near Minamitorishima, Japan’s Joint Staff said at the time.
It was the first known instance of both Chinese carriers operating simultaneously in the Pacific.
