Warship row: why Britain can’t afford to be on China’s bad side
- When the UK voted to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum, it became apparent Britain needed China more than China needed it
UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson’s announcement he would send a warship to the Pacific could cost the British government more than just its reputation as a serious player on the international stage.
As the country prepares to leave the European Union next month, currently with no deal on trading arrangements, it will need all the friends it can get.
Prime Minister Theresa May, the Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and the finance minister Philip Hammond have been bending over backwards to court Beijing in the hope of a preferable post-Brexit trading deal.
In a widely circulated speech, he said that as part of the UK’s post-Brexit global ambitions he would deploy the UK’s new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to the Indo-Pacific.
The ship will have US F-35 fighter jets embedded “enhancing the reach and lethality of our forces reinforcing the fact the United States remains our very closest of partners”.
