Joint participation in CSG's 2021 deployment demonstrates Anglo-American special relationship

Source
China Military Online
Editor
Chen Lufan
Time
2021-02-05 17:13:41

By Lan Shunzheng

It is reported that the UK and the US recently signed an agreement to jointly deploy the British Royal Navy’s HMS Queen Elizabeth Carrier Strike Group in the spring of 2021. According to a joint declaration of the two countries, the US Navy’s USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) and the Marine Corps’ 211th fighter squadron equipped with F-35B Lightning II aircraft will join the HMS Queen Elizabeth in her first deployment.

That the two countries decided on the joint deployment soon after the UK announced in early January this year that the HMS Queen Elizabeth Carrier Strike Group had formed initial combat capabilities reflects their eagerness to show the world their strong military relations. It also indicates that the mil-to-mil relations between London and Washington will grow closer after the UK completed its formal exit from the European Union.

The UK has been the US’s closest military partner thanks to their shared culture and ideology. Having worked side by side with each other during WWII and the Cold War, they have also “shared weal and woe” during several regional conflicts after the Cold War. Such cooperation is expected to intensify after the UK officially leaves the EU.

London began to think about its post-Brexit role and position on the international stage long ago. On October 2, 2016, the then British prime minister Theresa May mentioned in a speech the strategic vision of a “Global Britain” for the first time, vowing to “surpass Europe” after Brexit and assume a new role on the broader global level, with the aim for the UK to regain global influence.

However, for a country that has long fallen from the empire “where the sun never sets”, advancing the “global Britain” strategy not only requires sustained financial input, but also backing from the US. Not long ago,the American website Defense News published an article written by Ben Wallace, UK Secretary of State for Defence, saying the UK now has 21st-century carrier strike capabilities thanks to the staunch and comprehensive support and cooperation from the US in the past decade, and that the UK will continue to be the US’s most reliable, capable and staunch ally.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth Carrier was launched on July 4 2014 and commissioned on December 7 2017, being the largest military ship of the British Royal Navy along with its sister ship HMS Prince of Wales, and also a new image representitive of the British military. The US Marine Corps has been helping enhance the UK’s carrier aviation force to reinforce the core strike capability of the carrier strike group. On June 9, 2020, four F-35B fighters of the British Royal Navy and 10 of the US Marine Corps were deployed on HMS Queen Elizabeth, the largest-scale fleet onboard the carrier since 1983.

The US also needs Britain’s support to advance its global hegemony. Washington has been holding its relations with London and the two sides’ interoperability as a key principle in its national defense strategy. In recent years, its implementation of the “America first” policy has disgruntled and driven away many allies, with Europe taking faster steps toward defense independence. Therefore, the US needs to rely on the UK to maintain its global hegemony and advance the Indo-Pacific strategy.

Washington’s interests in Indo-Pacific affairs are evident to all. In contrast, under the “global Britain” vision, London’s strategic goal in the Indo-Pacific region mainly includes returning to the east of the Suez Canal, enhancing its security presence in the region, and inking trade deals with main regional economies. The purpose is to pave the way for developing economic and trade relations with the region in the post-Brexit age to offset London’s strategic losses in Europe arising from the withdrawal from the union.

In particular, to deliver on the “global Britain” vision, the UK has been actively seeking to enhance its security presence in the Indo-Pacific region over recent years. It has taken an active part in the regional restructuring for power balance. The US-UK joint deployment of carrier strike group portends that the two countries may poke their fingers into Indo-Pacific affairs in the military field, which will have severe negative impacts on regional stability.

Besides, Campbell, the “Indo-Pacific coordinator” in the National Security Committee of the Biden administration, said Britain is the first country they need to expand the quadrilateral alliance comprising the US, Japan, India, and Australia. Regional countries should stay highly alert to these new movements.

(The author is a research fellow at ANBOUND Center for International Relations Research.)

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