With town state’s iconic skyline as a backdrop, the 284-metre-long, 80,000-tonne HMS Prince of Wales grew to become the primary warship to dock on the Marina Bay Cruise Centre on Monday for its first port of name as a part of its eight-month deployment for Operation Highmast.
Whereas consultants advised This Week in Asia that the principle trade-off of not berthing at Changi Naval Base was the in depth safety measures provided, the choice confirmed London’s need for tender energy projection.
“I consider the UK assesses the safety danger is low, and London locations increased precedence on tender energy projection and excessive publicity, and to create larger consciousness of the UK’s defence contributions to Southeast Asia,” mentioned Abdul Rahman Yaacob, a analysis fellow within the Southeast Asia Programme on the Lowy Institute.
He famous that adequate safety measures could be in place on the cruise centre, with Singapore’s defence ministry and authorities guaranteeing the safety of the service whereas it’s docked at Marina Bay Cruise Centre.
British Excessive Commissioner to Singapore Nikesh Mehta defined throughout a media briefing final Thursday that the selection of the civilian centre was centred on visibility and accessibility, and to have “one of many world’s most superior warships sitting in opposition to one of the vital iconic skylines on this planet”.
