China warns Britain when carrier strike group approaches

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Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth

HMS Queen Elizabeth is part of a British carrier strike group sailing in the South China Sea.

China has warned the British carrier strike group, led by the carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, not to “inappropriate” when entering the disputed South China Sea.

“The PLA Navy is ready for combat,” said the parent government’s Global Times, which is considered the mouthpiece of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

China is closely monitoring the eastern development of carrier strike groups currently sailing in the South China Sea toward Japan, accusing Britain of “living in the colonial era.”

The Royal Navy is conducting exercises with the Republic of Singapore Navy, and British Defense Minister Ben Wallace does not hide his intention to conduct so-called “freedom of navigation” exercises in the South China Sea.

Contrary to the 2016 International Court ruling, China claims that many of its seas are its own and is busy building artificial reefs and runways, some of which are close to the territorial waters of neighboring countries.

Both US and Royal Navy warships have recently challenged China’s claim to South China Sea sovereignty by deliberately navigating the South China Sea.

Overview Satellite imagery shows construction by Chinese at Firey Cross Reef

China has built artificial islands in the South China Sea

So the problem now is as close as when the British Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender in the Black Sea was struck by Russian military aircraft as it passed near the conflicting Crimean Peninsula in June. Whether you can see the encounter. ??

Veerle Nouwens, Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Insitute (Rusi), a London think tank, said: “But that will certainly reveal that intent.”

If Britain implements freedom of navigation in the sea, Ms. Nuence believes it is likely to see a repeat of what happened when HMS Albion sailed in the sea in 2018. It cast a shadow over a Chinese warship from just 200 meters away. Warning It left while a Chinese aircraft was flying low over a British ship.

USS Ronald Reagan sailing in the South China Sea

America sailed the South China Sea

China is conducting a major military exercise in the region this week, worried about some analysts preparing to eventually invade Taiwan.

The PLA Navy will take advantage of the presence of British carrier strike groups in the South China Sea “as an opportunity to practice and to study the latest British warships up close,” the Global Times said. ..

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in London said: “The threat to freedom of navigation can only come from those who deploy carrier strike groups in the South China Sea, half a world away, and bend the naval muscles to strengthen the army. Tensions in the area.”

However, the arrival of carrier strike groups in the area caused some angry words from Beijing, but Luci’s Navy researcher Sidhaas Kaushall said, “China’s actions are sufficient when it comes to Navy standoffs. It has been adjusted to be below that. ” The threshold of what initiates a shooting war. “

The deployment of HMS Queen Elizabeth and its destroyers in East Asia is considered part of the UK government’s bid to play a more important role in global security, as shown in a recent integrated review of the government. I am.

France, like other European countries, is paying attention to the South China Sea as China’s growing military and economic power seems unstoppable.

China has recently embarked on a significant upgrade of its nuclear ballistic missile weapons and built a new launch silo in the remote Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. We are also developing a hypersonic glide vehicle, a high-speed missile called a “carrier killer” that can reach up to eight times the speed of sound.

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