In March 2013, Falkland Islanders will vote on a territorial referendum concerning their relationship with London. While the likely reactions of Buenos Aires and London are predictable, it will be interesting to see how Latin American states, which generally support Argentina’s claim in the name of regional unity, and Washington, which has struggled to remain neutral, will respond.
The British firm Rockhopper Exploration was the first company to obtain oil off the coast of the Falkland Islands in 2010. Since then, these oil deposits have raised the stakes of the historical territorial dispute between the United Kingdom and Argentina over these islands located in the South Atlantic Ocean. A recent report by the pro-military think tank, the United Kingdom National Defence Association (UKNDA), attempts to prove, albeit unconvincingly, that China could conceivably play a leading role in the future of this dispute.