On March 18, hours before a videoconference interview between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense confirmed that the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong had just passed through the Taiwan Strait, which had not happened again. since December 2020.
“We emphasize that we are warned and monitoring all aircraft carriers and ships of the PLA [Armée populaire de libération chinoise] evolving in the vicinity of the Taiwan Strait”, he indeed declared, in a message whose content was reported by AFP.
As a reminder, Beijing considers that Taiwan is part of its territory… Which therefore also applies to the strait in question, which is 180 km wide. This is disputed by the United States, which regularly sends US Navy ships there to defend the principle of freedom of navigation. Moreover, the movements of the aircraft carrier CNS Shandong were apparently followed by the “destroyer” USS Ralph Johnson.
A US Navy spokesperson said the vessel “performed a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait on March 17 local time in international waters in accordance with international law.” Almost at the same time as the CNS Shandong.
The USS Ralph Johnson is a regular in the Taiwan Strait given that it has transited there three times since the start of the year, which usually gives rise to strong protests from the Chinese authorities.
However, the US Navy is not the only one to carry out FONOP-type missions [Freedom of Navigation Opérations] in the Taiwan Strait. The Royal Navy transited a frigate belonging to the escort of the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth in September 2021. And the French Navy is not to be outdone.
Thus, in April 2018, China denounced the passage of the surveillance frigate “Vendémiaire” in the Taiwan Strait and canceled its participation in the naval parade organized in Qingdao for the 70th anniversary of the PLA.
“We sent warships in accordance with the law, in order to identify the French ship and order it to leave,” explained a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Defense. A note of “solemn protest” had been sent to Paris, three weeks after the events, on the grounds that the French frigate would have “illegally crossed” the Taiwan Strait and entered “Chinese territorial waters”.
However, this in no way prevented the French Navy from sending the Dupuy de Lôme intelligence vessel to the same Taiwan Strait last year. The announcement was made by Florence Parly, the Minister for the Armed Forces, during a parliamentary hearing in October 2021. And the Chinese reaction was discreet…
What about the recent – and new – passage of the frigate “Vendémiaire” in the Taiwan Strait?
On March 11, “the Vendémiaire passed through the Strait of Formosa to continue its mission in the South China Sea and to mark France’s attachment to freedom of navigation”, indeed laconically indicated the General Staff of the Armed Forces. [EMA]in its latest operations report.
Last week, the EMA reported that the Vendémiaire had ventured near the Spratly and Paracel Islands [revendiquées par Pékin] and that she headed for Scarborough Reef [objet d’un différend entre la Chine et les Philippines]… and that he was “professionally” followed by the Chinese frigate Zhanjiang.
In an interview published by the journal Conflits, Admiral Pierre Vandier, Chief of Staff of the French Navy, denounced the PLA’s acts of intimidation against French ships. “Three times this year, a Chinese frigate cut off a French warship by passing 50 meters from its bow. […] It’s their way of saying we’re unwanted in the South China Sea,” he said. What about the Vendémaire passage through the Taiwan Strait?
Be that as it may, and after taking part in exercises with the Philippine Navy and crossing the Taiwan Strait, the Vendémiaire set sail for the Korean Sea, where it must take part in the AETO mission, it is to say the French contribution to the UNSC ECC [United Nations Security Council Enforcement Coordination Cell]which aims to document the distortions of international sanctions that are supposed to apply to North Korea.
Photo: Army Staff