Warning to Chinese as Boris plans to send new UK carriers to Far East
BRITAIN’S ‘colossal’ new aircraft carriers will be deployed to the South China Sea, Boris Johnson said yesterday – in a move that is set to anger Beijing.
The Foreign Secretary said the show of strength would demonstrate Britain’s support for free navigation rights in international waters at a time when China is trying to claim the area as its own.
Speaking in Australia, Mr Johnson said: ‘One of the first things we will do with the two new colossal aircraft carriers ... is send them on a freedom of navigation operation to this area.’
The new £3billion HMS Queen Elizabeth carrier and its sister ship HMS Prince of Wales are the biggest warships ever commissioned by the Royal Navy, but neither vessel will be fully operational for years.
He said the warships would sail through the Malacca Strait between Sumatra and Malaysia – a route that carries a quarter of global trade. ‘We don’t want to see the militarisation of that area,’ he said. ‘We believe that for world trade to prosper there must be a fairness about the way sea lanes are going to operate.’
Mr Johnson insisted their deployment was ‘not because we have enemies in the region… but because we believe in upholding the rule of law.’
Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon yes- terday confirmed at least one warship would be sent to the region next year but declined to say which.
A decision to deploy to the disputed region will be seen as a highly provocative move by Beijing and could undermine what the two governments have called a ‘golden era’ in their relationship.
China reacted angrily after the US deployed a carrier to the region in February. At the time, China’s foreign ministry Geng Shuang claimed ‘indisputable sovereignty’ over the area and said Beijing ‘ firmly opposes any country’s attempt to undermine China’s sovereignty and security in the name of the freedom of navigation’.
China has responded to rising Western concern about the region by increasing its own military deployments to the area, raising fears of a possible confrontation.