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.
Rain is to increase from Wednesday morning as Severe Tropical Storm Kong-Rey approaches, with sea warnings to be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. As of 8am, Kong-Rey was 1,050km east-southeast of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) heading in a northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, CWA Forecast Center Director Lin Po-tung (林伯東) said. Rainfall is to increase from Wednesday morning, especially in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, he said. A sea warning is possible from tomorrow afternoon, while a land warning may be issued on Wednesday morning, he added. Kong-Rey may intensify into a moderate typhoon as it passes
Taiwan yesterday issued warnings to four Chinese coast guard vessels that intruded into restricted waters around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, according to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA). The four China Coast Guard ships were detected approaching restricted waters south of Kinmen at around 2 pm yesterday, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu Branch said in a statement. The CGA said it immediately deployed four patrol boats to closely monitor the situation. When the Chinese ships with the hull numbers "14512," "14609," "14603" and "14602" separately entered the restricted waters off Fuhsing islet (復興嶼), Zhaishan (翟山), Sinhu (新湖) and Liaoluo (料羅) at 3 pm, the Taiwanese patrol
A former member of the US Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), formerly known as SEAL Team 6, said in an interview with Business Insider that the elite unit’s role in a Taiwan Strait conflict would be more limited than some might expect. The report follows an earlier one in September by the Financial Times, which said the “clandestine US Navy commando unit” has been training for missions to help Taiwan if it is invaded by China. “You don’t use a scalpel for a job a hammer can do,” the former Navy Seal said to Business Insider on condition of anonymity.
MUCH-NEEDED: After China demonstrated its capabilities to deploy vertical launching systems, Taiwan needs air defense systems such as NASAMS, a defense expert said The US’ approval of exports of three advanced air defense missile systems to Taiwan signified NATO’s goodwill toward the nation, a Taiwanese defense expert said. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Friday announced the US$1.16 billion sale of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and the US$828 million sale of AN/TPS-77 and AN/TPS-78 radar turnkey systems. The NASAMS is a network that uses ground-launched Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to intercept hostile aircraft, drones and cruise missiles. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), director of defense strategy and resources at the state-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said
RSS