The plan by the United Kingdom and Australia to conduct joint military naval patrols of the South China Sea by the 2020s are being assailed by China as a misguided effort to relive the bygone glory of the British Empire.
In late June, Australia's Minister for Defense Marise Payne and British Secretary of State for Defense Gavin Williamson discussed joint naval operations in the Asia-Pacific during a two-day meeting in London. The talks revolved around naval patrols of the South China Sea by the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy, as well as the acquisition by Australia of nine Type 26 frigates from the UK.
Last March, the UK confirmed a promise first made in December 2016 the Royal Navy will commence "Freedom of Navigation Operations" (FONOPs) in the South China Sea in 2020.
Leading the British FONOPs will be the supercarrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08), and her attached air wing and carrier strike group. The 65,000 metric ton HMS Queen Elizabeth is expected to be fully operational by 2020. Her carrier air wing consists of up to 40 aircraft, including a squadron of Lockheed Martin F-35B stealth jets that can take-off and land vertically.
"We absolutely support the U.S. approach on this, we very much support what the U.S. has been doing," said Williamson. "The U.S. can only concentrate on so many things at once. The U.S. is looking for other countries to do more. This is a great opportunity for the U.K. and Australia to do more, to exercise leadership."
The patrols, which will infuriate China, are meant to reinforce the right of nations to freedom of navigation in this disputed maritime area. The Royal Navy said jet fighters from Queen Elizabeth will fly over the South China Sea.
The news of the joint British and Australian patrols drew the expected condemnation from China.
"Australia's escort of the British aircraft carrier is unlikely to be a display of the 'British-Australian friendship' at the top of the two governments. On the contrary, it indicates the smaller British Navy is incapable of moving alone," said a scathing editorial in the Global Times, a newspaper owned by the Communist Party of China (CPC).
Global Times noted that six of the Royal Navy's Type 45 destroyers are currently in port for maintenance due to engine failure. In November 2017, all six of Type 45 destroyers broke down, claims Global Times. The Type 26 frigate, the warship bought by Australia, is still under construction and is expected to be delivered to the British Navy after 2020.
Global Times cited Chinese military analysts who said the return to the Asia-Pacific of the smaller Royal Navy, "whose military power can hardly match its ambition, is merely for an image. Why is the UK determined to come to the South China Sea? What are British strategic interests in this region?"
