Britain might send aircraft carrier to back Australian vessels patrolling South China Sea
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop insisted the two countries were ‘like-minded nations’ promoting ‘peace and stability’
Australia and Britain are discussing plans for the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to be sent to the Pacific amid tensions over China’s militarisation in the South China Sea.
Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop discussed joint naval operations in the Pacific region with UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, during their visit this week.
In an effort to highlight the defence ties, Williamson and Payne visited BAe Systems shipyards on the Clyde in Glasgow to inspect new Type 26 frigates of the kind Australia bought last month in a £20 billion ($36 billion) deal, and the UK nuclear submarine base at Faslane.
At a joint news conference in Edinburgh on Friday, which included Britain’s new Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Bishop said there had a been a distinct shift in “great power relations” that had fuelled an unprecedented level of global volatility.
No one mentioned China’s appropriation and militarisation of islands claimed by other Southeast Asian countries – it has built airbases and installed missile systems close to its neighbours and increased its control of regional sea lanes.