Britain's new aircraft carrier joins NATO wargame with eye on China

THE maiden voyage of a new British aircraft carrier has the potential to trigger a potential batteship diplomacy as it would sail into uncharted waters as part of NATO exercises in the Mediterranean.

Speaking on board HMS Queen Elizabeth, the largest ship built for the Royal Navy, Admiral Tony Radakin said it would be "foolish" to go into tactical details.

The 65,000-ton aircraft carrier was six days into its sailing ahead of the eight-month voyage that will cross through the South China Sea in a signal to Beijing that sea lanes must remain open.

The strike group will visit India, Japan, South Korea and Singapore on a mission to boost UK trade links and strengthen security ties in the Far East.

It will lead two destroyers, two frigates, a submarine and two support ships on its journey of 26,000 nautical miles, joined by a U.S. destroyer and a frigate from the Dutch navy.

The carrier is "a hugely powerful statement," Commodore Steve Moorhouse, the ship's commanding officer and captain told Reuters on deck off the Portuguese coast.

"It shows that we are a global navy and wanting to be back out there," he said. "The aim for us is that this deployment will be part of a more persistent presence for the United Kingdom in that region," he added, referring to the Indo-Pacific that includes India and Australia.

Asked about British efforts to step up influence in the Indo-Pacific region to counter China's rising power - a strategy also followed by the European Union and supported by NATO - Moorhouse said: "We want to uphold international norms ... our presence out there is absolutely key."

China claims 90 per cent of the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also lay claim to parts of it.

The United States has long opposed China's expansive territorial claims there, sending warships regularly through the waterway to demonstrate freedom of navigation.

In the Mediterranean, this British carrier group makes up for NATO's biggest drills of the year, Steadfast Defender, that includes a maritime live exercise with around 5,000 forces and 18 ships.

"It sends a message of NATO's resolve," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said onboard the aircraft carrier.

"We face global threats and challenges, including the shifting balance of power with the rise of China," he said, adding that although China had the world's biggest navy, it was not considered an adversary by NATO.