Royal Navy ship detour to avoid Taiwan Strait

THE ROYAL Navy’s new aircraft carrier strike group will take a controversial route to avoid provoking China on her first major voyage, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

Although HMS Queen Elizabeth will sail through the South China Sea – a vital shipping route which Beijing has become increasingly assertive over in recent years – she will not sail through the Taiwan Strait, instead going east as she makes her way up to Japan for the final section of the trip.

However, the decision not to sail the £3 billion warship through the strait on a voyage that will focus on freedom of navigation operations, has raised eyebrows due to Beijing’s vow to annex Taiwan, which it claims as its territory.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, said the Government and Royal Navy “need to rethink this journey”.

He said: “I’m pleased the aircraft carrier is deploying in the South China Sea but they need to complete this process by letting the Chinese know they disapprove of their aggressive actions against their neighbours by sailing through the Taiwan Strait.”

Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the Defence Select Committee, worried the carrier strike group’s maiden voyage could be “diminished” over “fear of offence”.

Mr Ellwood said the “purpose” of sailing to the Indopacific “is to stand up to the authoritarianism of China”.

“Many will wonder how a carrier visit to the South China Sea will alter China’s behaviour. Clearly it won’t and instead we are altering our behaviour,” he said.

Meanwhile Robert Clark, defence fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, said: “The warship should continue the precedent set by the French Navy two years previously and sail through the international waters of the Taiwan Strait.”

However Admiral Lord West, the former first sea lord, believed such a move was “unnecessary”.

“I think it’s enough of a statement by going through the South China Sea,” he said. “You don’t need to rub people’s faces in it by travelling through the Formosa Strait.”

The Telegraph can also reveal that the carrier strike group will deploy from Portsmouth the week commencing May 24, with personnel instructed to be ready in Portsmouth from May 18.