China is seeking to build the world’s largest fleet, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in a speech at the Atlantic Future Forum on Wednesday (Oct. 21). He said the U.K. and the U.S. should strengthen cooperation in all fields and jointly explore new ways to deal with global instability.
The Atlantic Future Forum 2020 was held on October 21 aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, a member of the Royal Navy. Representatives from the U.S. and the U.K. will discuss deepening cooperation between the two countries on new coronavirus vaccine development, cyber threats, defense security and trade.
At the forum, Wallace said, “China is building the world’s largest fleet of surface and underwater vessels, and our competitors continue to challenge us in the gray area between war and peace.”
Wallace emphasized, “We must continue to work with the United States to strengthen our special alliance at a time of heightened global uncertainty and evolving competitors.”
U.S. Secretary of Naval Operations Michael Gilday also told the forum that the two navies are committed to the “interchangeability” of aircraft carrier forces. He said, “After months of effort, the U.S. and British navies are on the verge of signing an integrated letter of intent to conduct operations.
It is reported that the letter of intent to the effect that the United States and the United Kingdom will simultaneously develop capabilities, strengthen operational concepts and provide joint sea power, through the use of aircraft carrier strike, underwater superiority, naval and Marine Corps integration, as well as unmanned and artificial intelligence cooperation, to ensure that the two countries will maintain a leading position in the future great power competition.
Angus Essenhigh, commander of HMS Queen Elizabeth, has previously stated that British carriers are now equipped with the most powerful fifth-generation strike force ever assembled and that the U.S. and British Marine Corps F-35Bs have taken operability to a whole new level, with the next step being to explore “interoperability” to support U.S. and British fighters in mixed formations against common targets.
Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper said in a speech Tuesday (Oct. 20) at The Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank, that one of the U.S. military’s top priorities today is to strengthen cooperation with allies, build partnerships, and develop a coordinated strategic approach to respond to Beijing and the United States. Moscow’s military expansion and aggression.
In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press conference on October 21 that “the U.S. side’s quest to brand China as an adversary is a serious strategic miscalculation, and its investment of its own strategic resources in the wrong direction is not conducive to Sino-U.S. mutual trust and cooperation, nor to the maintenance of peace and stability in the region and the world.
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