East of Suez is a term used inBritish military and political discussions in reference to interests east of theSuez Canal, and may or may not include theMiddle East.[1] The phrase was popularised byRudyard Kipling in his 1890 poem "Mandalay".[2] It later became a popular song when a tune was added byOley Speaks in 1907.[3]
"Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
Where there aren't noTen Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst;"
The opening of theSuez Canal in 1869 provided the shortest ocean link from Britain to the Far East by making the long journey around theCape of Good Hope unnecessary.[4] With the 1882invasion and occupation of Egypt, the United Kingdom took de facto control of the country as well as joint control along with theFrench of the Suez Canal – which had been described as the “jugular vein of the Empire”.[5]
The canal and the imperial outposts east of the canal were of genuine strategic value to theBritish Empire[6] and its military infrastructure drew on sea lanes of communication through theMediterranean Sea via theSuez Canal, alternatively round theCape of Good Hope toIndia, and on to East Asia (Brunei,Burma,Malaya,Hong Kong,North Borneo,Singapore,Sarawak) andAustralia.
Thecapture of Singapore by theJapanese on 15 February 1942, which was preceded by thesinking ofPrince of Wales andRepulse, severely damaged the Empire as it lost a strategic imperial outpost and presaged the end of British imperial power post–Second World War.[7] Then, with thePartition of India later in 1947, there was a gradual decrease of the military presence "East of Suez", marking the end of the Empire.[8][9]
TheSuez Crisis—a diplomatic and military confrontation in November 1956, caused by thenationalisation of the Suez Canal byEgyptian PresidentGamal Abdel Nasser—ended in Egypt taking complete control of the canal. Both theUnited States and theUSSR threatened the British to relent, exposing the now marginalised economic and military influence of the UK and its loss ofsuperpower status, limiting its access to its bases in the Middle East and Asia.[9][10][11]
In January 1968, a few weeks after thedevaluation of the pound,[1][8] the Labour Party Prime MinisterHarold Wilson and hisDefence Secretary,Denis Healey, announced that British troops would be withdrawn in 1971 from major military bases in South East Asia, "east ofAden", primarily inMalaysia andSingapore[12][13][14] as well as thePersian Gulf and theMaldives[15] (both of which are sited in the Indian Ocean), which is when the phrase "East of Suez" became part of thevernacular. In June 1970,Edward Heath's Conservative government came to power and retained a small political and military commitment to South East Asia through theFive Power Defence Arrangements.[16] Prior to the 1997handover of Hong Kong to China, Britain basedseveral units inHong Kong.
In April 2013, a Britishresearch institute, theRoyal United Services Institute (Rusi), published a report which stated that the UK is in the process of a strategic shift back to an east of Suez policy. The report stated that a permanent military presence was being established at Al-Minhad in theUnited Arab Emirates (UAE), by theRAF, as well as the continuing buildup of British troops in the Persian Gulf states as Britain begins to withdraw its troops fromAfghanistan. Furthermore, the report argued that as Britain begins to relocateits troops from Germany by 2020, the British base in the UAE could become their permanent home.[17]
The think tank also explained that as theUnited States begins to concentrate more on the Asia-Pacific region in its attempt to balance China's rise as a world power, a strategic vacuum would emerge in the Persian Gulf region which was being filled incrementally by Britain. This shift of troops to the UAE coincided with establishment of the Royal Navy'sUK Maritime Component Command (UKMCC) inBahrain. In December, the UK's Chief of Defence Staff,GeneralSir David Richards, said: "After Afghanistan, the [Persian] Gulf will become our main military effort".[18][19] Overall this would signal a reversal of Britain's East of Suez withdrawal.[20][21]
In 2014, theForeign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) announced that the UK would expand its naval facilities in Bahrain to accept largerRoyal Navy ships deployed to the Persian Gulf.HMSJufair is the UK's first permanent military base located East of Suez since it withdrew from the region in 1971. The base will reportedly be large enough to accommodateType 45 destroyers andQueen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.[22][23][24] TheStrategic Defence and Security Review 2015 stated new British Defence Staffs will be established in the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa in 2016.[25][26] In 2017, theUK Joint Logistics Support Base was established in Oman, followed by a newOmani-British Joint Training Area in 2019.[27][28]
Britain maintains aJungle Warfare Training School inBrunei, and a battalion of theRoyal Gurkha Rifles in addition to some aircraft of theArmy Air Corps as part of theBritish Military Garrison Brunei.[29] There is also a small British military presence remaining onDiego Garcia in theBritish Indian Ocean Territory, and a refuelling station (manned by Royal Navy personnel) inSembawang, Singapore, as part of theFive Power Defence Arrangements.[30]