"The UK will confirm today [May 18] that its Carrier Strike Group will return to the Indo-Pacific in 2025, following its maiden voyage to the region in 2021," the UK government said in a statement on the website.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, during the meeting in Hiroshima on Thursday, will sign a new global strategic partnership dubbed the Hiroshima Accord, including new agreements in defense, trade, investment, science, technology, tackling global issues and climate change, the statement read.
Under the accord, Sunak is also expected to agree on a new Cyber Partnership with Tokyo.
Sunak, during his visit to a naval base in Tokyo on Thursday, will announce doubling UK troop numbers to some 170 service members in the upcoming fourth UK-Japan joint ‘Vigilant Isles’ military exercises, the government said.
In May 2021, the UK carrier strike group led by the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier was on a 28-week voyage, during which it first called at ports of India, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. During the voyage, the group participated in joint military exercises with the armed forces of Japan, the United States, South Korea, and India. In July 2021, the aircraft carrier sailed through the South China Sea.