The British carrier task force will advertise the advantages of trade and defense relations with Britain.
Britain is about to embark on a world tour - in the shape of the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by a fleet of warships.
The Royal Navy says it will be the most powerful UK naval deployment in a generation.
The government sees the fleet, named the Carrier Strike Group, as a potent symbol of "Global Britain" - and as proof of Boris Johnson's promise to restore the Royal Navy as Europe's foremost naval power and end what he called an "era of retreat".
The task force will carry out combat missions. It includes an American and Dutch escort warship along with more American F-35Bs than the British will deploy on this maiden global voyage.
In my view the tour is to highlight that post-EU Britain is no longer tied to the European continent. Britain is a global force.
Britain's tour will promote British trade with the symbol of how Britain can support militarily those trade partners.
And the NATO additions are a symbol of Britain's ability to pull in more power than their task force if the going gets rough. Although yes, the allied role may be a symbol of British naval weakness for now, as the article raises.
UPDATE: This fits with the push to support allies anywhere:
Britain confirmed that at some point during its carrier task force deployment in the western Pacific and South China Sea it expects naval forces from the UAE, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Israel, India, Oman and South Korea, to participate in exercises with the task force.
The more the merrier.
