Britain has said the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands is not up for negotiation, after Argentina’s newly-elected president promised to “get them back”.
Javier Milei, who won a resounding victory in Argentina’s presidential election on Sunday, said Buenos Aires had “non-negotiable” sovereignty over the Falklands, the archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean which is known as Islas Malvinas in Argentina.
Mr Milei said during a TV debate in the run-up to the election that “we have to make every effort to recover the islands through diplomatic channels”.
On Tuesday a spokesperson for prime minister Rishi Sunak said: “The UK has no doubt about the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, and indeed South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
“The UK government will continue to proactively defend the Falkland islanders’ right to self determination.”
There are lots of islands out there. Shound countries go around seizing control of any islands near them?
No?
Sorry, I’m not quite sure where you’re going with this is all.
My viewpoint will naturally be heavily skewed being British, but it’s globally recognised as British territory as has been earlier noted, and the last two referenda on the topic to my knowledge have overwhelmingly resulted in the residents wishing to remain effectively British - so no I wouldn’t support Argentine (or anyone’s) efforts to retake it.
My point is - if I may make a haphazard analogy - that if the Irish Sea was believed to be rich in some valuable resource and Argentina had ownership of the Isle of Man, then I can see how the Brits would be frustrated at potentially losing out over all the money that’s on their doorstep, even though it didnt belong to them.