When the British Navy’s HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier strike group makes its first port call in Japan as part of a 28-week, 26,000 nautical mile (48,000 kilometer) deployment that begins next month, it will represent a sea change in thinking in London and a signal to other European nations with China on their minds as they eye closer ties with Tokyo.
The Queen Elizabeth carrier will lead a flotilla of Royal Navy ships — as well as a U.S. Navy destroyer, a frigate from the Netherlands and a squadron of U.S. Marine Corps F-35B fighter jets — taking the vessels through the flash point South and East China seas, while making stops in India, Singapore, Japan and South Korea, according to the British Ministry of Defence.
The port call will also come as Tokyo grapples with how best to confront Beijing over its growing assertiveness in the region.