Why China has its eye on the Falklands

Though overlooked in the wake of Russia’s devastation of Ukraine, Beijing has flagrantly interfered in Britain’s national interests by proclaiming support for Argentina’s claims to the Falkland Islands.

China’s timing was particularly provocative, given that 2022 marks the 40th anniversary of the Falklands war. Britain’s success in that conflict helped buttress international law and self-determination in the face of territorial revanchism by aggressive, authoritarian powers. But Beijing is well practiced in undermining these global legal norms, as proved by its dismissal of a Hague ruling against China’s expansive claims throughout the South China Sea.

Ironically, China’s Falkland declaration came just as the Biden White House rolled out its Indo-Pacific Strategy. The timing helped prove Washington’s assertion that far from cooperating in global governance, Beijing is instead increasingly adopting Moscow’s tactics of destabilisation and disruption.

The extraordinary intervention smacked of Cold War-era tactics to create geopolitical blocs.