A French naval ship passed through the Taiwan Strait, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
The French vessel entered the Taiwan Strait on Monday night and sailed in a northerly direction, the ministry said, without identifying it.
The military monitored the vessel, the ministry said, adding that the situation was “as normal,” without elaborating.
Photo: AFP
There was no immediate comment from the French government.
Chang Ching (張競), a retired captain in Taiwan’s navy, told RW News that it was the French Navy’s frigate Prairial that made the voyage.
The Philippine Star last week reported that the Prairial was docked in Cebu as part of its operational deployment in the Indo-Pacific region.
Chang said that the French Navy has been highly active in the first island chain.
The Vendemiaire, a French frigate, joined US and Philippine ships at the Exercise Balikatan in April for the first time in the history of the drills, a month before the Bretagne guided missile destroyer visited Manila, Chang said.
The Prairial’s transit through the Taiwan Strait was not surprising, considering its visit in the Philippines last week and navigational hazards posed by Tropical Storm Trami and Typhoon Kong-rey, he said.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army is not likely to issue a response to the passage unless the ship made “pretentious and anti-factual claims,” RW News paraphrased Chang as saying.
China is not in principle opposed to rights of other nations’ navies to navigate freely in its surrounding seas, he said.
The Prairial was the third Western warship to sail in the Taiwan Strait this month after the Higgins, a US guided missile destroyer, and the Vancouver, a Canadian frigate, transited it together on Oct. 20.
The US Navy, occasionally accompanied by ships from allied countries, transits the Strait about once a month.
The French Navy has previously transited the strait, including last year.
Two German Navy ships sailed through it last month.
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