British aircraft carrier's return to the Asia-Pacific region is "real and virtual"

Source: China National Defense News, China Military Horn

Aircraft carrier "Prince of Wales" of the British Navy

The British government recently announced that it will carry out regular joint military exercises with the United States and Japan in the so-called Indo-Pacific region, and plans to send the "Prince of Wales" aircraft carrier strike group to visit Japan. The UK's continued intensification of military intervention in the Asia-Pacific region will have a negative impact on the regional security situation and will also expose itself to more security challenges.

Strengthen military investment in the Asia-Pacific region

The British government announced in mid-April that from 2025, the British military will work with the US military and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces to conduct regular joint military exercises in the Asia-Pacific region to enhance joint combat capabilities. To this end, Britain will send an aircraft carrier strike group with the "Prince of Wales" aircraft carrier as the core to dock at Japanese ports and first hold a joint exercise in the waters near Japan.

In recent years, Britain has strengthened its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region in a variety of ways. In 2021, the United Kingdom sent the "Queen Elizabeth" aircraft carrier formation to the Asia-Pacific region, holding joint exercises with India, the United States, Japan and some Southeast Asian countries along the way, and docking in Japan for the first time. Subsequently, Britain regularly deployed two patrol ships with a displacement of 3,500 tons, "Tamar" and "Spee", in the region. Following November 2022, on April 15 this year, the British patrol ship "Spee" docked at the Yokosuka base of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force for the second time and conducted joint training with Japanese ships. On April 17, the British Ministry of Defense announced that it would deploy at least one additional new generation Type 31 frigate with a displacement of 6,600 tons to the region.

Britain's military partnership with Japan is also heating up. The Reciprocal Access Agreement between the UK and Japan came into force in October 2023, further simplifying entry procedures for joint training between the two countries' forces. On April 8 this year, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia issued a joint statement, announcing that they are considering cooperation with Japan on the "Pillar 2 Advanced Capability Project" through the "Trilateral Security Partnership" between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, involving quantum computing, artificial intelligence and other fields. Together with Japan and Italy, the UK is also working on a joint development of the next generation of fighter jets, known as the Global Air Combat Initiative.

Increase regional security risks

The United States and Japan have responded in a high-profile manner to the UK's moves. In early April, before and after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's visit to the United States, the United States and Japan officially announced that the upgraded U.S.-Japan alliance will strengthen the security partnership with the United Kingdom, and the three countries will increase the frequency of joint exercises in the Asia-Pacific region and carry out technical cooperation in anti-submarine aircraft and robotics.

The United States, Japan, and Britain actually have their own calculations for strengthening military linkage in the Asia-Pacific region.

For the United States, Britain is the most "hardcore" follower of the United States in Europe, and the United States wants to vigorously promote "NATO Indo-Pacificization" and "Indo-Pacific NATO", especially in the Asia-Pacific region to build a multilateral military alliance system of the "United States-Japan +" model, which requires Britain to take the lead in responding, and then induce and coerce other European allies to follow the pace of Britain.

Japan has always sought to shake off the shackles of the "post-war system" and restore its status as a military power. This requires not only the acquiescence and connivance of the United States, but also the support and cooperation of more so-called "like-minded countries," that is, US allies, of which the United Kingdom is an important member.

Since Brexit, the UK has been emphasizing the creation of a "global Britain", but in fact it wants to relive the old dream of an "empire on which the sun never sets", and is also full of ambitions for the Asia-Pacific region. The UK's 2023 updated Security, Defence and Foreign Policy Review will strengthen its engagement in the Asia-Pacific region as a "permanent pillar of policy". Building, consolidating and leveraging alliances to boost momentum is the main lever for Britain to intervene in Asia-Pacific affairs. In April this year, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron visited the United States, and at a press conference jointly held with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, he mentioned the alliance as many as six times, covering the United Kingdom and the United States, the West, NATO, the "Five Eyes" and "Aukus Alliance".

Obviously, Britain is trying to expand its military influence in the Asia-Pacific region with the United States as the "central axis," the "Five Eyes" and "Aukus Alliance" as the basis, and the strengthened US-Japan alliance as the basis. It can be expected that the UK will then go against the wishes and interests of many countries in the Asia-Pacific region and continue to cooperate with the United States in promoting the construction of a "grid-format" alliance system in the Asia-Pacific region.

Expose the many shortcomings of the navy

It is quite meaningful that during the visit of British Defense Secretary Shapps to Japan in 2023, he announced that the British aircraft carrier strike group that will visit Japan in 2025 will be "led" by the aircraft carrier "Queen Elizabeth". Today, Britain has replaced the "lead" aircraft carrier with the "Prince of Wales". This detail once again exposed that Britain's strength could no longer support its ambitions. In fact, the British Navy is currently facing a number of practical problems.

As far as the aircraft carrier itself is concerned, judging from the data on paper alone, the two Queen Elizabeth-class are remarkable, and among the aircraft carriers of Western countries, their tonnage and comprehensive performance are second only to the Ford-class aircraft carriers of the United States. In particular, its use of a dual-ship island design and a vertical landing method of F-35B fighter jets has attracted the attention of many countries, and Japan and South Korea have sent delegations to conduct special investigations. However, due to the decline of Britain's comprehensive national strength, especially the shipbuilding industry and related technologies, the two ships have been continuously broken down from the beginning of construction, and there have been many water leakage accidents during sea trials and service, which has affected the normal voyage. In February this year, the aircraft carrier "Queen Elizabeth," which was originally scheduled to participate in NATO exercises, was found to have a serious mechanical failure at the last minute before departure, and the British Navy had to "change ships on the spot." The aircraft carrier "Prince of Wales", which was temporarily appointed, was also found to have failed to calibrate the propeller propeller shafts on both sides, resulting in the vibration of the propeller shafts exceeding the design tolerances and affecting the service life.

The decline in the quality of the British Navy's officers and men has also had many adverse effects on the British aircraft carrier and even the Navy as a whole. In 2021, during the cruise of the "Queen Elizabeth" in the Asia-Pacific region, an F-35B fighter jet on board crashed into the sea during takeoff, and the cause of the accident was that the ground crew forgot to clean the waterproof cover according to the regulations, so that it was sucked into the fighter engine. In January this year, two British Navy minesweepers collided in the port of Bahrain, which was also determined to be a man-made operation accident.

In addition, due to the aging and insufficient number of auxiliary vessels, it has become increasingly difficult for the British Navy to carry out ocean-going missions. According to the Financial Times, the supply ship "Fort Victoria", which has been in service for 34 years, is the last dry cargo supply ship in the current British fleet, and although it has undergone several improvements, it is still waiting to be repaired in the dockyard. Due to financial and personnel constraints, the British Navy had to retire some warships ahead of schedule, but the progress of the procurement of new warships was slow, so that the number of warships was "green and yellow" and the scale continued to shrink. In addition, the Type 31 frigates of the British Navy, which are planned to come to the Asia-Pacific region, will not be put into service until at least 2028.

(Produced by China National Defense News, China Military Horn)