Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what diplomatic action they have taken in response to unlawful actions by China in the South China Sea.

We regularly encourage all parties, including China, to settle their disputes peacefully through the existing legal mechanisms, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and to uphold the 2016 Arbitration ruling. The British Government's position is to oppose any action which changes the facts on the ground in the South China Sea, raises tensions, or hinders the chance of peaceful settlement of the disputes. We regularly make this position clear to the Chinese authorities and will continue to do so. We have also set out our position publicly alongside partners such as France and Germany, with whom we made a joint statement in August 2019.