China ANGRY: The UK has announced plans to establish a new Asian naval base - THE UK’s plan to build an Asian naval base is “clearly a muscle-flexing gesture targeting China”, according to an academic at an institute funded by China.
The UK has announced plans to establish a new Asian naval base. The base will likely be in Brunei or Singapore. It is a move Taiwan has welcomed but China is likely to lament.
Responding to news of the plan, Xu Liping, a professor at the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the South China Morning Post: “It is clearly a muscle-flexing gesture targeting China and shows closer engagement of external powers in the South China Sea disputes.
The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is a state-funded institute, which admits its programmes are “both academic and policy-oriented”.
Xu’s comments came after Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson confirmed last week the UK aims to establish a new naval base somewhere in Asia in the coming years.
Mr Williamson said: “This is our biggest moment as a nation since the end of the Second World War.
“This is our moment to be that true global player once more – and I think the armed forces play a really important role as part of that.
The plans coincide with what Theresa May said last January about building a “global Britain” post-Brexit.
Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson also stated at the time the UK would be “more committed to the Asia-Pacific region” and after decades of moving its military interests westwards.
The South China Sea is a contested naval strait with many nations believing they have a claim to the tactical stretch of sea.
China, along with several of its neighbours including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, has been involved in a decades-long dispute over who controls the marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean.
Xi Jinping's superstate claims most of the sea as its territory but China’s neighbours argue parts of the area belong to them.
Tensions have skyrocketed in recent years and resulted in the involvement of the US.
US officials have warned of China’s growing military dominance, especially in the context of the superpower’s far side of the moon landing last week.
Of the historic feat, Bob Walker, the space adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, told The Sunday Telegraph: “It's part of a more total Chinese effort.
“This is an indication China has the capability to use the moon for military matters.
“If you look at what they're doing in the South China Sea, there are a number of elements to what the People's Liberation Army is doing in terms of aggressive military policy but space is a very big one.
And the Pentagon warned earlier this year China’s ambitious space programme was part of Chinese military plans to make space “central to modern warfare”.
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