The Royal Navy is ready to defy China over Taiwan, the commander of the UK Carrier Strike Group has said.
On Tuesday, Carrier Strike Group 2025 will set sail from Portsmouth as part of an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific.
While the Government has not confirmed the precise route of Operation Highmast, the Navy has not ruled out transiting through the contentious 180km-wide Taiwan Strait.
It comes amid increasing fears that China is preparing for a full-scale invasion of the island.
China’s armed forces regularly rehearse an invasion of Taiwan, and conducted live-fire exercises at the start of this month. In March, Chinese “D-Day style” barges were spotted practising what appeared to be amphibious landings.
The deployment comes as tensions between the UK and China have increased over spying fears and the row triggered by the UK Government taking control of British Steel from its Chinese owner.
Commodore James Blackmore, in charge of the UK Carrier Strike Group, told The Telegraph he was ready to undertake any route required.
Speaking on the flight deck of HMS Prince of Wales, the £3 billion aircraft carrier that will lead the group, he said: “I will deliver whatever mission I am ordered to go and do – that’s my role.
“My part of the bargain is being ready for all eventualities from a combat capability, from a defence engagement capability, from a partners and allies capability, so I’m ready to exercise whatever the Government or the Ministry of Defence asks me to do.”
While Cdre Blackmore, 50, said he could not speak “specifically” to the route he would take while in the Indo-Pacific, he added that there was a clear motive for being there.
“One of the purposes of being in the region is to hold up international order,” he said. “It’s demonstrating our commitment to that and reassuring our partners and allies. That choice of my routing will be taken by a much more senior Government level.
“What I can reassure everybody is that I am ready to undertake whatever routing and mission I’m asked to do.”
Earlier this month, Adml Sir Tony Radakin, the Chief of the Defence Staff, met members of China’s central military commission in China.
The meeting, the first by a British Chief of the Defence Staff in a decade, led to speculation that the Chinese told Sir Tony not to enter the Taiwan Strait during the Carrier Strike Group’s deployment.
China claims it owns almost the entirety of the South China Sea and that the Taiwan Strait is in its own internal waters. However, international agreements decree they are the “high seas” and that freedom of navigation, which means any nation’s ships can pass through the waters without threat, applies.
International Carrier Strike Group
The UK Carrier Strike Group will form part of a larger international mission, working with nations including Norway, Canada and France Credit: LPhot Unaisi Luke
Despite this, the 2021 Carrier Strike Group avoided sailing through the Strait to avoid provoking China. At the time senior Conservative MPs accused the Government of failing to stand up to an increasingly assertive Beijing.
If Carrier Strike Group 2025 does not transit through the Strait on this voyage, it will be seen as further evidence of the UK cosying up to Xi Jinping, the Chinese president.
Sir Tony’s recent visit to Beijing was presented as a natural continuation of the Government’s desire to “reset” relations with China after the visit of Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, to Beijing in January, which followed a visit by David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, at the end of last year.
Another area of contention for Carrier Strike Group 2025 will be when it sails through the Bab-el-Mandeb in the Red Sea. The area has seen sustained fighting with the Houthis for over a year, in which the Royal Navy has been actively involved.
Asked if the strike group would engage in active combat in the Red Sea if required, Cdre Blackmore said: “What I have to be always cognisant of is the ability to defend myself and also the ability to go and strike if asked to.
“That’s what a Carrier Strike Group does, that focus on that middle word, ‘strike’. That’s also the inherent agility of a Carrier Strike Group – we have a plan, that’s a plan we will go and execute, but at every stage of that plan I’m ready to be ordered to go and do something different and that’s everything, up to and including combat operations if asked for.
“I know I’ve got to transit through the Red Sea. I’m acutely aware of the dynamics that are associated with the Red Sea at the moment. I am always prepared and ready to not only defend myself but also to any stage in this deployment, if I am asked to undertake combat operations, I am absolutely ready.”
The mission will see around 2,100 British military personnel embark on HMS Prince of Wales over the eight-month period, as part of an international Carrier Strike Group that will work with other nations including Norway, Canada and France.
With up to 24 F-35B fighter jets, along with an undisclosed number of T-150 Malloy and Puma drones, as well as anti-submarine helicopters, anti-submarine frigates and an Astute-Class submarine making up Carrier Strike Group 2025, Cdre Blackmore is certain this year’s deployment will send a strong message to Europe’s adversaries.
“It sends a message to partners and allies because it reassures, and to any of those adversaries out there who might want to cause disruption on a global stage – the UK has a capable and credible capability in its UK Carrier Strike Group if required,” he said.
Cdre Blackmore added that the deployment was testament to the request of Donald Trump, the US president, that the UK shows more of a leading role within Europe.
“We are one of the few nations that can convene so many international partners, I think that in itself is a demonstration of stepping up,” he said. “Of the 13 nations deploying with me, nine are Nato allies, the other four are Nato partners.
“I think that sends a very, very strong message about our capability and intent and that actually we are willing to take a lead where required as the leading European nation within Nato and our ability to stand not only alongside America, but also where required to step in for the US with the capability.”
It comes as Sir Keir Starmer prepares to host Christopher Luxon, the New Zealand prime minister, on Tuesday. The pair are expected to visit a military base to see British and New Zealand personnel train Ukrainian troops as part of the UK’s Operation Interflex.
Sir Keir is also expected to announce a deal worth £30 million for drones produced by SYOS Aerospace, a New Zealand company that has a factory in Hampshire.
