UK looks to add new overseas military bases after Brexit

[Kailash Kumar]

Post-Brexit UK looks to add military bases

Andrew Woodcock

December 30, 2018

The UK is looking to establish new military bases in the Caribbean and Far East as part of a bid to become a "true global player" following Brexit, British Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has said.

Williamson said that the 1960s policy of withdrawal from regions "east of Suez" had been ripped up as the UK takes the opportunity to "recast" its role on the global stage.

He played down the significance of his announcement that troops were being put on standby to assist civil authorities on Brexit day, describing it as "good sensible planning to make sure that everything runs as smoothly as possible".

Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, Williamson said Britons should be "much more optimistic about our future as we exit the European Union".

He said: "This is our biggest moment as a nation since the end of the Second World War, when we can recast ourselves in a different way, we can actually play the role on the world stage that the world expects us to play.

"For so long - literally for decades - so much of our national view point has actually been coloured by a discussion about the European Union.

"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."

Williamson said he was looking at opportunities to establish a UK presence "not just in the Far East but also in the Caribbean as well".

He declined to identify possible locations, but the Telegraph quoted a source close to the Defence Secretary as saying that new bases, housing service and maintenance staff, supply ships and equipment, could be sited in Singapore or Brunei in the South China Sea, or Montserrat or Guyana in the Caribbean "within the next couple of years".

Williamson said: "I am ... very much looking at how can we get as much of our resources forward based, actually creating a deterrent but also taking a British presence. We are looking at those opportunities not just in the Far East but also in the Caribbean as well."

He said he expected a dramatic shift in political focus after Brexit - with the UK building deeper relationships with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Caribbean states and nations across Africa.

Williamson predicted these countries would look to the UK for "the moral leadership, the military leadership and the global leadership".

He said that recent research showed that Britons under-estimated the potential for UK global influence.

The research showed that while "the rest of the world saw Britain standing 10 feet tall - when actually we stood six feet tall - Britons saw us standing five feet tall, not the six, and certainly not the 10", he said.

https://www.news.com.au/world/break...s/news-story/aef30738094c0f0859c3df83a9269872

 

[Tshering22]

And do what? Offer an alternative to US narrative? I don't think so. British are trying to replicate French operations in Africa, where there is no need for their troops to be stationed overseas.

 

[Species]

Based on threat perception or national pride? The latter looks more likely. Theresa May is under serious pressure over the effects of Brexit and might be veiling the issue with these announcements.

 

[UKBengali]

And do what? Offer an alternative to US narrative? I don't think so. British are trying to replicate French operations in Africa, where there is no need for their troops to be stationed overseas.

Actually the likes of Australia would welcome a UK presence as they gear up to face China in the Asia seas over the next decades.

We have already seen Australia choose their next-gen frigate based on the UK Type-26 design. UK's RN will be able to send CBGs to the waters off Australia next decade in joint exercises and patrols.

 

[Tshering22]

Actually the likes of Australia would welcome a UK presence as they gear up to face China in the Asia seas over the next decades.

We have already seen Australia choose their next-gen frigate based on the UK Type-26 design. UK's RN will be able to send CBGs to the waters off Australia next decade in joint exercises and patrols.

RN is a powerful navy no doubt. They have mastered naval warfare and have proven time and again that they can hold on their own. But provoking PLAN will be a different ballgame. You're talking about a navy which is going head to head with US Navy in the coming 5-10 years and is racing towards that goal at breakneck speeds.

China is one country which will never really use military invasions; it will use economic leverage with full force to tighten its control. Even then, in the worst of possible scenarios, it would be unlikely that RN would like to fight PLAN head on.

 

[UKBengali]

RN is a powerful navy no doubt. They have mastered naval warfare and have proven time and again that they can hold on their own. But provoking PLAN will be a different ballgame. You're talking about a navy which is going head to head with US Navy in the coming 5-10 years and is racing towards that goal at breakneck speeds.

China is one country which will never really use military invasions; it will use economic leverage with full force to tighten its control. Even then, in the worst of possible scenarios, it would be unlikely that RN would like to fight PLAN head on.

RN will not be there to provoke China, more to show solidarity with Australia. Australia needs powerful allies by it's side as it feels threatened by PLAAN buildup.

If there was a showdown with PLAAN then it would be USN, JMSF, RN and RAN combined and we do not even need to guess that PLAAN would be totally annihilated in this scenario.

As for PLAAN versus USN, that will take them many many decades to even match USN assets in numbers. Let us not get into the technological lead that USN will have even by 2050 - as an example China is only now aiming to match the 1990s USN seawolf class with the Type-095 SSN and they may not even hit this target.