Major pledge on Britain being 'ready to fight' in face of China threats

Britain is ready to fight in the face of escalation from China, the Defence Secretary has said.

John Healey was challenged over threats to Taiwan as he visited the British aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, which is docked in Australia as part of a rare Indo-Pacific deployment.

Asked about what the UK is doing to support countries like Taiwan amid potential escalation from China, Mr Healey told The Telegraph: “If we have to fight, as we have done in the past, Australia and the UK are nations that will fight together.

“We exercise together and by exercising together and being more ready to fight, we deter better together.”

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But the Cabinet minister insisted he would rather see any disputes in the Indo-Pacific resolved “peacefully” and “diplomatically”, clarifying that he was speaking about preparation to fight in “general terms”.

Mr Healey was joined by Richard Marles, Australia’s deputy prime minister, on HMS Prince of Wales, as the ship docked in Darwin to take part in war games with allies, including the US.

The British aircraft carrier, which is roughly the size of three football pitches, is on an eight-month deployment, known as Operation Highmast.

In April, Keir Starmer met the crew onboard HMS Prince of Wales during an overnight stay ahead of their voyage. The PM said the mission showed the UK's "leadership on global issues and security and defence".

"We all know that the world is more uncertain than it felt a few months or years before - we're in a new era," Mr Starmer said at the time. "We are sending a clear message of strength to our adversaries, and a message of unity and purpose to our allies."

Tensions in the Indo-pacific region have been increasing for some time, with fears mounting that China will invade Taiwan, a self-governing island. China's leader Xi Jinping has eyed forcibly incorporating Taiwan into the country.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth warned in May of China posing an "imminent" threat to Taiwan during a high-level Asia defence summit.

In the UK's Strategic Defence Review, published in June, it said: "China is increasingly leveraging its economic , technological and military capabilities.. This includes: a vast increase in advanced platforms and weapons systems such as space warfare capabilities, an unprecedented diversification and growth of its conventional and nuclear missile forces with missiles that can reach the UK and Europe.”

And on the China threat the SDR warns of: “More types and greater numbers of nuclear weapons than ever before with its arsenal expected to double to 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030.”

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