The Independent reported on Tuesday that Downing Street has distanced itself from comments made by Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, in which he outlined plans to send Britain's new aircraft carrier into what the paper described as "disputed waters in the Pacific".

The Defence Secretary had announced that HMS Queen Elizabeth's first mission would take the carrier into a region the paper describes as being one "where China had been involved in an ongoing dispute over navigation rights," and that Secretary Williamson said Britain was ready to use its "hard power".

According to The Independent, Prime Minister Teresa May's official spokesman has since issued a statement saying that the carrier, due to be deployed in 2021, would visit a number of locations around the world, and that the Prime Minister would make any final decisions regarding its route.

"In relation to China, I think we have set out areas where we have concerns – such as around cyber-intrusions against the UK and our allies," the Prime Minister's spokesman was quoted as saying in the report. "But it is also a country with which we have a strong and constructive relationship."

The report by the British paper also quoted Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Jamie Stone, who has questioned the suggestion that the aircraft carrier would be deployed to the Pacific.

"Gavin Williamson is heating up UK defence rhetoric, something which may well be seen as provocation by Beijing. This comes following years of hollowing-out of Britain's military capabilities, with the British Army now at the smallest it has been in decades," he said.

"Rather than flaunting the HMS Queen Elizabeth in the Pacific, the Conservatives should instead be focusing on the pressing issues facing the British armed forces at the moment, including the £15bn shortfall in the MoD's equipment plan over the next decade," said Stone.