China’s army has called the last crossing of a British ship through the Taiwan Strait a divisive action of “deliberate provocation” that “undermines peace and stability”.

The British royal navy says the HMS Patrol Patrol Wednesday was part of a long planned placement and was in accordance with international law.

Patrol – The first from a British maritime ship in four years – comes while a group of UK carva strikes reaches the region for a dislocation that will last several months.

China considers Taiwan its territory – a claim that its own -government Taiwan refuses – and has not ruled out the use of force to “reunite” the island.

A spokesman from Marina, China, criticized the UK for “Public Hypnotism” HMS Spey’s journey, and said the United Kingdom claims were “a distortion of legal principles and an attempt to deceive the public”.

“Such actions are deliberate provocations that disrupt the situation and undermine peace and stability throughout the Taiwan Strait.”

She added that she had monitored HMS Spey throughout her journey to the strait, and Chinese troops “will resolve all threats and provocations.”

Later, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that while China respects the rights of other countries to sail through the Taiwan Strait, she also “firmly opposes every country using the name of navigation to provoke and threaten China’s Sovereign security”.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, has praised the patrol as an act that defended the freedom of navigation in the Taiwan Strait.

As US warships regularly run the freedom of navigation in the Strait, the last time such a trip was undertaken by a British maritime ship was in 2021 when the Richmond war HMS settled in Vietnam.

This transit was similarly convicted by China, which had sent troops to monitor the ship.

HMS Spey is one of the two British warships permanently on patrol in the Indo-Pacific.

Its passing through the Taiwan Strait comes as a group of United Kingdom Carriers, led by the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft, reaches the Indo-Pacific region for an eight month.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has described him as one of the greatest placements of the carrier this century aimed at “sending a clear message of strength to our opponents, and a message of unity and purpose for our allies.”

About 4,000 military personnel in the UK are participating in deployment.

The group will engage with 30 seats through military operations and visits, and will conduct exercises with the US, India, Singapore and Malaysia.

The tensions of the intersection between China and Taiwan have increased over the past year since the Taiwanese President Lai Ching, who sampled a strong anti-Beiin stance, took office.

He has characterized Beijing as a “foreign hostile force” and presented policies aimed at Chinese influence operations in Taiwan.

Meanwhile, China continues to perform frequent military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, including a living fire exercise in April claiming simulated strikes in the main ports and objects of energy.

China’s recent criticism of the HMS Spey transit comes as two Chinese aircraft carriers perform an unprecedented military training in the Pacific in the waters of Japan, which has alarmed Tokyo.