Too scared to offend China: Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier ‘will avoid the Taiwan Strait on maiden voyage through South China Sea to avoid provoking Beijing’
- HMS Queen Elizabeth will take the South China Sea after sailing east from the UK
- Politicians have criticised the passage schedule, saying it is too soft on Beijing
- The £3 billion warship will visit Gibraltar, Oman, Singapore, on its first voyage
The Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier strike group will take a circuitous route to avoid the Taiwan Strait to prevent offending Beijing in its maiden voyage in May.
The group, which includes the HMS Queen Elizabeth, will instead go through the South China Sea to the east of the island, which China claims as its own, on route to Japan.
The planned route appears to break with long-standing defence policy which would have expected the £3 billion battleship to sail through the Taiwan Strait, technically an international waterway.
The Ministry of Defence told the MailOnline it was unable to provide further information on the HMS Queen Elizabeth, but did not dispute the strike group’s planned route.
The Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier strike group will take a circuitous route to avoid the Taiwan Strait to prevent offending Beijing in its maiden voyage in May
The group, which includes the HMS Queen Elizabeth, will instead go through the South China Sea to the east of the island, which China claims as its own, on route to Japan
Politicians have jumped to criticise the passage schedule, which many see as being too soft on Beijing, the Telegraph reported.
Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told the newspaper the government should ‘revisit their schedule’.
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 that they disapprove of their very aggressive actions against their neighbours by sailing through the Taiwan Strait.
‘I hope they will revisit their schedule, and ensure that this happens.’
The warship, which was ironically billed to focus on freedom of navigation operations, will leave Portsmouth for the voyage in the week following Sunday, May 23 (pictured, the HMSQueen Elizabeth berthed in Scotland)
The warship, which was ironically billed to focus on freedom of navigation operations, will leave Portsmouth for the voyage in the week following Sunday, May 23.
However, personnel have been told to be ready for departure from Portsmouth from May 18.
The voyage will include a stop in Gibraltar, exercises, including anti-submarines warfare drills, with NATO and non-NATO partners around the Suez Canal, and a week-long stopover in Duqm, the British navy’s base in Oman, according to the Telegraph.
The HMS Queen Elizabeth will then take part in light joint exercises with the Indian navy in the Indian Ocean, dock briefly in Singapore, and then finish the trip with two weeks of exercises with the Japanese and the Americans.
The state of the art warship will be deployed as part of the UK’s aircraft carrier strike group.
The 65,000 tonne carrier is capable of carrying up to 40 aircraft and is primarily used to launch F35 strike aircraft.
The carrier will embark F-35B jets from 617 Squadron (the Dambusters’) and Royal Navy Merlin helicopters, and will be escorted and supported by Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers, Type 23 frigates and support ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
The Queen Elizabeth and its F-35B Lightning jets will also be complemented by a detachment of the stealth fighters from the US Marine Corps as well as a US Navy destroyer during the deployment.