‘Freedom of Navigation Isn’t a Freedom to Invade & Infringe Upon Sovereignty’ – China’s UK Envoy

• ‘Freedom of Navigation’ or provoking WW3? See also:
  –
  Japan’s largest warship trains with US naval strike group in contested South China Sea
  –
• ‘Freedom of Navigation Isn’t a Freedom to Invade & Infringe Upon Sovereignty’ – China’s UK Envoy
  by https://www.rt.com/
  Beijing “cherishes” the freedom of navigation principle but will not remain idle as Western powers use it as a pretext to show off their “military might” and “create trouble” in the South China Sea, China’s UK ambassador has said.
  –
  “Some big countries outside the region did not seem to appreciate the peace and tranquility in the South China Sea. They sent warships and aircraft all the way to the South China Sea to create trouble,” Ambassador Liu Xiaoming told the annual Induction Programme for Commonwealth Diplomats, held in London.
  –
  China, the Ambassador stressed, has no problem with freedom of navigation and actually “cherishes” the principle, which allows “hundreds of thousands” of ships to sail through the disputed waters of one of the world’s biggest trade arteries. Beijing is only concerned when the US vessels and those of their allies brazenly breach the territorial waters of the Paracel and the Spratly chain of islands, where China has been building up military infrastructure to protect its territorial claims.
  –
  read more.

end