Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans the Government has to support the US administration in promoting regional security in (a) the South China Sea and (b) other parts of Asia.

We continue to work closely with the US in promoting regional security across Asia. In line with our Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 commitments to the Asia Pacific region more broadly, we are active with a range of like-minded security partners in the region. For example, in November 2016 Exercise Eastern Vortex saw the Royal Air Force participate in a military exercise with Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand; in joint exercises with Japan; and in a trilateral exercise with the US and the Republic of Korea.