China has warned Britain is 'a bi*ch... asking for a beating' if British warships challenge Beijing's claim to the South China Sea.
The HMS Queen Elizabeth and her carrier group arrived in the disputed waters on Thursday and are set to sail through Beijing's backyard alongside eight other vessels in a show of strength to Chinese President Xi Jingping.
But Chinese state media has warned any move seen as a challenge to islands which Beijing lays claim to would mean Britain 'is being a bi*ch' and 'asking for a beating'.
Editor-in-chief of the state-run Global Times Hu Xijin said China would 'make an example' of any British incursion into waters claimed by Beijing.
'US ships have repeatedly entered the 12-nautical-mile limit of Chinese islets in the South China Sea, and China has exercised maximum restraint,' he said.
'But it doesn't mean we will tolerate such provocations for long, and it definitely doesn't mean US allies can imitate Washington's dangerous acts.'
'To say it precisely, if the UK wants to play the role to coerce China in the South China Sea, then it is being a bitch. If it has any substantial move, it is asking for a beating,' Hu said.
HMS Queen Elizabeth (front pictured earlier this week) has arrived in the South China Sea as Beijing threatens to 'expel' the British warships if they sail close to islands it lays claim to
F-35 lightning stealth fighters are seen on the deck of Big Lizzie, with a warship of the Singapore navy in the background during joint drills earlier this week
The UK strike group plans to carry out 'freedom of navigation' operations in the South China Sea as a rebuke to Beijing, which claims part of the waters as its own
Beijing later toned down the warning, rewriting the line to warn Britain 'is demeaning itself' by trying to have a military presence in the South China Sea.
Chinese state mouthpiece Global Times warned any 'real action' against China would mean British warships were 'looking for a defeat'.
'All other countries outside the region are advised to stay away from this confrontation to avoid "accidental injury"', it added.
China also doubled down on threats to 'expel' British warships from parts of the Southern China Sea today, warning Beijing was 'likely to escalate' attempts to remove the vessels.
Meanwhile a Chinese academic yesterday told state media that 'China welcomes friends with wine but deals with wolves with a shotgun'.
The UK carrier strike group, spearheaded by HMS Queen Elizabeth, is currently on a round-the-world tour as part of her maiden deployment in what is believed to be the biggest show of British naval power to leave the UK in generations.
Vessels have already sailed through the Mediterranean to the Red Sea via the Suez canal, then from Oman to India where the British ships took
