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<p>The wrecks of HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales lie in international waters off
Malaysia and are designated as protected places under the United Kingdom's Protection
of Military Remains Act 1986. Regrettably we are aware of unauthorised salvaging and
damage to the wrecks. We are engaged with the Government of Malaysia and the Royal
Malaysian Navy to prevent further damage. In May 2014, the British High Commission
in Kuala Lumpur issued a press release welcoming the actions of the Royal Malaysian
Navy to impound a Cambodian registered vessel responsible for illegally disturbing
and salvaging ship wrecks for scrap material. We took the opportunity to highlight
that wrecks should be treated as military maritime graves and given the respect they
deserve.The large number of Royal Navy wrecks around the world means there are limitations
on what can be achieved by the United Kingdom alone with regard to enforcing protection
but where we have definitive evidence of desecration of sites, we will respond. Also,
when items from protected wrecks are found to be for sale the Government can intervene,
as we did successfully in May 2014 when items from HMS Repulse and HMS Exeter were
removed from an auction in Australia and taken possession of by our High Commission
in Canberra.</p>
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