Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current security situation in the South China Sea, following the recent shipping incident between a Chinese and a Philippine vessel in the Spratly Islands; and what steps they are taking to help to defuse tensions and prevent escalation in the area.

The UK opposes actions which raise tensions and increase the risk of miscalculation in the South China Sea. Minister Trevelyan made the UK's position clear in her speech at the South China Sea conference in Vietnam in October, where she raised the serious risks posed by recent instances of unsafe conduct against Filipino vessels. Senior officials have raised the risks of miscalculation directly with China, and our Ambassador in Manila has raised the UK's objection to the harassment of Filipino vessels around Second Thomas Shoal and reiterated our support for United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The UK will continue to support regional partners through an enhanced programme of maritime capacity building in Southeast Asia which provides training and funding to strengthen regional capacity on maritime law and security.