The Foreign Secretary said that the decision to send the Navy’s most powerful
warship, HMS Dauntless, to the Islands was not provocative, but rather part
of “entirely routine military movements.
“They are entirely routine – of course our ships regularly visit the
South Atlantic. We don’t normally make any comment on the deployment of our
nuclear submarines.
“But our Naval vessels regularly visit the South Atlantic.”
Mr Hague also commented on the deployment of Prince William, saying the tour
of duty to the Falklands “is part of his job”.
Flight Lieutenant Wales, as Prince William is known, will be spending six
weeks on the islands as a RAF helicopter pilot, in a tour of duty which the
Ministry of Defence insists is a routine deployment.
But the visible presence of the prince in the Islands, with the first
photographs of him at work released yesterday, comes at a moment of
heightened tension between Britain and Argentina.
Angry Argentines have burned British flags in protest at the prince’s arrival,
and his deployment to the Falklands triggered outrage from Buenos Aires as
tensions grow ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Argentine invasion in
April. The country’s foreign ministry expressed regret that an heir to the
throne would arrive wearing “the uniform of a conqueror”.
Mr Hague responded to the heightened rhetoric, saying: “We will resist
the diplomatic efforts of Argentina to raise the temperature on this and
when I was in the Caribbean a couple of weeks ago, the Caribbean nations
agreed to support a self-determination of the Falkland islanders which is
what we believe in.
“We will put the case for that around the world, including for Latin
American and Caribbean nations whenever we get the opportunity.”
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