CHINA-UK: GLOBAL TIMES REACTS TO BRITISH PLANS TO DEPLOY NEW AIRCRAFT CARRIER 'QUEEN ELIZABETH' IN FAR EAST

Zhang Junshe, senior research Fellow at the PLA Naval Research Institute wrote in the Global Times (July 15) that British plans to base the HMS Queen Elizabeth, one of the UK's new aircraft carriers as the centrepiece of a carrier strike group in the Far East, is to play a part in countering "an increasingly assertive China". He said the British military chiefs envisage it will conduct military exercises in the Far East with allies including the US and Japan early next year. UK's objective in releasing the news, he said, is to seek attention with the hot-button South China Sea issue and to show loyalty to the US. He added "Some Britons still dream that their country is as powerful as "the empire on which the sun never sets". Those days are long faded" and "the UK is bluffing. It should know its limitations before attempting to strong-arm China, which is no longer a weak military country to be bullied as it was during the Opium Wars" He said the HMS Queen Elizabeth won't be a deterrence to China even if it is sent to the Far East. Asking "how many countries take seriously the UK's military strength right now?" he said "Britain needs a realistic view of itself instead of biting off more than it can chew". 





Subscribe to Newswire | Site Map | Email Us
Centre for China Analysis and Strategy, A-50, Second Floor, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi-110057
Tel: 011 41017353
Email: office@ccasindia.org