Apart from the United States, extra-regional countries from Europe and Oceania increased the frequency of their military activities in the western Pacific in 2025, especially in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, raising the risk of accidental clashes and undermining regional peace and stability, said a think tank report released on Tuesday.

According to the report, which was issued by the Beijing-based think tank South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative, countries including the United Kingdom, France, Canada and Australia have in recent years frequently sent warships and military aircraft to the region for so-called "freedom of navigation" operations, citing tensions in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.

In 2025, six warships from Australia, Canada, the UK and New Zealand sailed through the strait on five occasions, each accompanied by official publicity machinery, the report said.

The UK and Australia also carried out two so-called "freedom of navigation" operations in the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea in 2025, it said.

Hu Bo, director of the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative, said that Australia, Canada and the UK have used the pretext of safeguarding rights of passage in international waters under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to make their military presence felt in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.

Among these extra-regional countries, Australia has been the "most aggressive", with its military aircraft intruding into the airspace of China's Xisha Islands in the South China Sea frequently, according to the report.

Chinese military sources said that Australian military aircraft intruded into the Xisha Islands airspace in February and October last year, and were driven away on both occasions by Chinese military aircraft.

The think tank's report said that Australia's statements at the time avoided mentioning its deliberate intrusion into China's Xisha Islands airspace and instead accused a Chinese fighter jet of conducting "unsafe" maneuvers.

In 2025, nearly 200 warships from 18 extra-regional countries sailed or operated in the region, with a total surface force presence of nearly 10,000 ship-days throughout the year, according to incomplete statistics cited in the report.

Among them, 109 warships from the US operated in the western Pacific for 9,088 ship-days. A total of 48 warships from these non-US countries operated in the region for 610 ship-days, equivalent to an average presence of about two vessels on the surface per day, the report said.

Hu said the main purpose of these military activities from non-regional countries is to increase their presence in the region and strengthen relations with regional countries, while also coordinating with US military strategies and operations in the region.

He added that these non-US countries are also trying to enhance interoperability with allies and partners in East Asia and demonstrate a collective presence through their military activities, noting that their political signaling carries more weight than their actual military impact.

"Strategically, such military operations are not conducive to regional peace and stability, and tactically, they carry the risk of accidental clashes," Hu said. "At the same time, they are also insufficient to change the regional balance of power."