Paris:
A French nuclear attack submarine was amongst two navy ships that not too long ago performed a patrol via the South China Sea, its defence minister announced, in a move most likely to anger Beijing, which claims most of the strategic waters as its territory.
The SNA Emeraude was accompanied by assistance ship BSAM Seine for the passage, Defence Minister Florence Parly stated on Twitter late Monday.
“This extraordinary patrol has just completed a passage in the South China Sea. A striking proof of the capacity of our French Navy to deploy far away and for a long time together with our Australian, American and Japanese strategic partners,” she tweeted along with a image of the two vessels at sea.
China lays claim to practically all of the South China Sea even though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all also claim components of the area, believed to hold important oil and gas deposits.
US warships sometimes carry out “freedom of navigation” missions via or close to waters claimed by Beijing to pressure Washington’s rejection of these claims.
The USS John S. McCain final week sailed close to islands in the South China Sea claimed by Beijing and performed a transit via the Taiwan Strait, prompting a warning from China.
NATO member France has exclusive financial zones in the Pacific about its overseas territories and has stressed the significance of defending freedom of navigation in the area.
“Why such a mission? To enrich our knowledge of this area and affirm that international law is the only rule that is valid, whatever the sea where we sail,” Parly tweeted.
The French patrol comes immediately after the inauguration of US President Joe Biden, who has underscored assistance for Washington’s Asian allies immediately after 4 chaotic years of the Donald Trump administration.
In April 2019, there was a naval incident in the Taiwan Strait when Chinese ships told the French frigate Vendemiaire to leave the waterway that separates the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, an additional sensitive region claimed by Beijing.
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