In a 2013 referendum, Falkland residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of remaining under British rule. The referendum saw 92% of all eligible voters turn out, with 99.8% of votes being “yes.”
“The Falklands are British because Falkland Islanders choose to be British,” Streeting said Friday, pointing to the will of the voters.
The first recorded landing on the island was made in 1690 by English naval captain John Strong. Britain took possession of West Falkland in 1765. France and Spain each had settlements on the islands at different times, but Britain re-established control in 1833 and has since administered the islands.
“Argentina claims the U.K. took the islands as an act of imperialism in the 1830s, but the remedy to colonial acquisition would be self-determination,” says Marc Weller, programme director of the international law programme at U.K.-based think tank Chatham House.
Given the British government’s insistence on Falklanders deciding their future, “it is therefore acting in accordance with the principle of self-determination,” he tells TIME.