China has issued a statement on the sidelines of the Beijing Winter Olympics stating that four-decade after the Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom had ended bitterly for Buenos Aires. China has once again supported Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands stirring discussions around the outstanding dispute.
The President of China Xi Jinping and the President of Argentina have issued a joint statement last week saying that China has reaffirmed its support for Argentina’s demand to have the full exercise of sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands using the Argentine name for the disputed territory. Argentina has always maintained that the Falkland Islands were taken from it in 1833 and were also invaded by the British Colony in 1982. That incident has come to known as the Falklands War went on for over three months with the United Kingdom emerging victorious.
This discussion regarding the matter is not something new. The issue has gotten global attention and it is owed to the high-profiled and visible platform of the Winter Olympics being used to issue statements referring to the said islands at a time when the world is looking at Beijing. It is the fortieth anniversary of the war this year and Argentina has been single-mindedly engaging regionally and globally to once again assert its stand on the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands. The joint statement by Buenos Aires and Beijing is one of the most prominent of these engagements.
Last week, a regional permanent organisation composed of the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean at the Latin America Parliament (Parlatino) had also backed the stance of Argentina. The foreign ministry of Argentina had also issued a statement stating that the Parlatino legislators and members of Malvina’s councils had called on the international community to urge the government of Britain to resume the negotiations with Argentina.
Since the 18th century, the Falkland Islands that are located off the coast of Argentina in the South Atlantic Ocean, have been subjected to colonisation by various nations such as France, Britain, Spain, and Argentina. France first established their colony in 1764 and the British arrived the next year to claim the islands. It then marked the beginning of a dispute and it has been ongoing ever since.
Over the last 20 years, minor conflicts between Argentina and Britain have followed with both the nations asserting their dominance over the other and alternatively claiming victory in the dispute. In 1840, the conflicts ended when the Falkland Islands became a crown colony and Britain sent Scottish settlers to the islands to establish a community.
The Islands have held strategic importance to Britain and they were used by them as a military base in South Atlantic Ocean during both the world wars. In 1965, Resolution 2065 was a non-binding resolution that was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that recognised the existence of a sovereignty dispute between the United Kingdom and Argentina. The UN urged both countries to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Eventually, Argentina invaded the islands in 1982, which sparked the Falklands War, stating that the UK had illegally taken the islands. Although the United Kingdom was not prepared for that attack, the war ended with their victory after two months.
