MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Reports rubbished about Argentine threat to Falklands

Argentina is behaving in an increasingly bellicose way over the Falkland Islands, a prominent British MP has warned.

Shadow defense secretary Liam Fox, of the main opposition Conservative Party, gave the warning after newspaper reports that the Argentinean air force had doubled in size, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported Monday.

However, Argentina's ambassador to London has written to the newspapers to say there has been no such dramatic increase. And Mike Summers, from the Falklands Island Council, said the possibility of an invasion was "almost laughable," the BBC said.

Britain claimed sovereignty of the Falklands in 1833 but it has remained disputed, with Argentina invading in 1982 and then being defeated by the British armed forces.

Fox questioned whether defense cuts meant Britain could raise the kind of task force it used in Falklands War. He said there had been a war of words in recent times, with Argentina forging an alliance with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, who has called for Britain to hand over the Islands to Buenos Aries.

Fox said was worried the British government was sending mixed signals while there were "increasingly bellicose noises" coming out of Argentina.

"We must make sure that we make it clear to Argentina that we would do absolutely anything to defend the Falklands and any action from them would be extremely foolish," he said.

The Argentine government denies the claims and the British Ministry of Defense says Argentina is a valuable ally.

British officials say Argentina had 300 planes at the time of the 1982 Falklands invasion and now has just 100.

Summers told the BBC: "I don't think we are overly concerned at the moment about what's happening in Argentina. The possibilities of them mounting an invasion are so remote as to be almost laughable.

According to the Falkland Islands weekly newspaper "Penguin News"last Friday Councillor Summers condemned the stories: "I think it's irresponsible to write stories like that; of course it's part of the great debate that goes on about freedom of the press, (but) do they really stop to think about the effect it might actually have on people here...?"