Navy to join UK flotilla in Asia

New Zealand’s navy will join the United Kingdom’s flagship aircraft carrier in a tour of the Indo-Pacific, including passing through the contested South China Sea, the defence minister says.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth left Portsmouth, England, on Sunday for its maiden voyage. It will lead a carrier strike group that includes United States and Dutch navies to 40 countries, reaching India, East Asia, and the Pacific later this year.

Defence Minister Peeni Henare said it was his expectation that New Zealand would ‘‘most definitely’’ join the carrier group in its travels through the Pacific and East Asia. New Zealand may join the flotilla in visits to Japan and South Korea.

‘‘When I spoke with my counterpart in the UK we had indicated ... our willingness to play our part,’’ he said.

‘‘We’ve made it clear that we’re naturally at home in the Pacific . . . We do have to go through a process to approve that through Cabinet, and also to make sure that our personnel are safe because of Covid-19.’’

China has been rapidly expanding its footprint in the South China Sea. It is also locked in a territorial dispute with Japan over a set of islands in the East China Sea.

Henare was advised last year, in a Defence Force briefing, that the Pacific was a strategic concern to New Zealand as China ‘‘seeks to restore claimed historical levels of influence’’.

New Zealand would also join the UK navy in an exercise with the Five Powers Defence Arrangement countries, being held off the east coast of Malaysia in October.