Crowds cheer Royal Navy’s 3.5bn flagship HMS Prince of Wales as it begins eight-month mission to the Far East in military show of force – with crew ready to defy China over Taiwan [Video]

The Royal Navy’s £3.5billion flagship has set sail on its eight-month mission to the Far East as part of a huge military show of force that could see it clashing with China.

Crowds cheered as HMS Prince of Wales departed her home of Portsmouth to lead an international maritime strike group which aims to send a ‘powerful message’ that Britain ‘means business’.

The 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier – the biggest vessel ever built for the Senior Service – will lead a coalition of British, Norwegian and Canadian warships on operations in the Mediterranean, Middle East, south-east Asia, Japan and Australia. 

While the Government has not confirmed the precise route of ‘Operation Highmast’ – the codename for the deployment – the Navy has not ruled out sailing through the contentious 110-mile wide Taiwan Strait. 

The mission comes amid mounting fears that China is planning to launch a full-scale invasion of the island, with Beijing…