A Good (or Bad) ...

 ... joke)) 

The United Kingdom could resort to military force against China in the event of an escalation over Taiwan, British Defense Secretary John Healey has said, though he emphasized that London continues to prefer a diplomatic resolution. Speaking to The Telegraph during a visit to Australia, Healey said Britain would “secure peace through strength” if necessary – marking one of the clearest signals yet from a senior UK official regarding the possibility of direct confrontation with Beijing. Healey made the remarks as the HMS Prince of Wales, a British aircraft carrier equipped with F-35 fighter jets, docked in the northern Australian city of Darwin. It is the first time in nearly 30 years that a British strike group has arrived in the region. The carrier is on a nine-month Pacific deployment, participating in Australia’s Talisman Sabre exercise and visiting ports in Japan and South Korea. ”If we have to fight, as we have done in the past, Australia and the UK are nations that will fight together. We exercise together and by exercising together and being more ready to fight, we deter better together,” Healey said when asked what London would do in case of an escalation around Taiwan.

Somebody has to remind Mr. Healey that the UK has no military force to resort to. For starters, UK has no real army to speak of, and the Royal Navy's "combat stability" (ability to continue to carry out tasks under combat conditions) is questionable at best. If Healey who has ZERO military background thinks that flattops are not fat prestigious targets, well--sell him a bridge. With one huge pile of metal called HMS Prince of Wales and a single operational Astute-class nuclear powered sub available to what passes for the UK Navy which used to be a proud Royal Navy, time for these clowns to finally resign themselves to the reality of the UK approaching the status of the third world country, with her armed forces being a great embodiment of a rotting husk of once mighty empire. Without the US, militarily UK is not a serious power, period.