Royal Navy warns it's ready to face down China over Taiwan

The commander of the Royal Navy's UK Carrier Strike Group (CSG) has said he is "ready for all eventualities from a combat capability" as British ships begin a deployment in the Indo-Pacific - with transit through the contentious 180km-wide Taiwan Strait not ruled out. The international formation of Royal Navy warships is setting off from Portsmouth on Tuesday on an eight-month deployment known as Operation Highmast, which will involve some 2,500 personnel from the Royal Navy, 592 from the Royal Air Force, and 900 from the army.

The mission will take the fleet across the Mediterranean, Middle East, Indian Ocean, and into the Pacific, and include exercises and port visits with allied nations, including the US, India, Singapore, and Malaysia, according to a . It will be led by the Royal Navy flagship HMS Prince of Wales. Speaking to on the flight deck of the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier, CSG commander Commodore James Blackmore said he 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," he added.

The 100-mile Taiwan Strait separating China and Taiwan is located within the South China Sea, most of which China claims, and contains international waters.

China claims the strait is within its own internal waters and recently held a large-scale live-fire military exercise in it. The drills were seen as Beijing's latest threat towards Taiwan, which it claims is part of China, and has long threatened to invade.

The exercise, codenamed "Strait Thunder", involved multiple Chinese military vessels and included apparent practising of amphibious landings. It was condemned by the Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te.

Taiwan's democratically elected government has previously insisted the strait is an international waterway and has supported US warships transiting it, in defiance of Beijing's claim of sovereignty over the passage, which is of considerable strategic importance, as per .

But while Britain has joined the US in rebuking threats by an increasingly asserting China towards Taiwan, a self-governed island, the 2021 Carrier Strike Group took a controversial route North through the South China Sea under the previous Conservative government, which critics claimed was to avoid provoking China.

Cdre Blackmore said he was not able to speak "specifically" about the route that would be taken in the Indo-Pacific, and such decisions would be made by the government.

"One of the purposes of being in the region is to hold up international order," he told the newspaper. "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."

The MoD has been approached for comment via email.

The CSG will also be sailing through the Bab-el-Mandeb in the Red Sea, another area of tension amid combined efforts by the US, Britain, and other allies to suppress attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on international shipping.

Cdre Blackmore was asked by the Telegraph whether the strike group would engage in active combat in the Red Sea if neccessary, responding: "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," he continued. "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 Defence Secretary, John Healey MP described Highmast as an "immensely complex operation" which he said sends "a powerful message of deterrence to any adversary".

He added: "This is a unique opportunity for the UK to operate in close coordination with our partners and allies in a deployment that not only shows our commitment to security and stability, but also provides an opportunity to bolster our own economy and boost British trade and exports."

The government says exercises CSG are set to carry out in the Mediterranean will reinforce European security.