Two French warships docked in the Chinese commercial hub of Shanghai yesterday, which diplomats said marked the first visit to China by French naval vessels since 2013.
The Dixmude, which serves as a helicopter carrier, and the frigate Aconit pulled into port at a naval base in northern Shanghai yesterday morning, greeted by Chinese military officers waiting on the dock with flowers and a band.
The visit marks the tenth time French naval ships have come to Shanghai, the Chinese navy said in a statement.
Photo: Reuters
“We want to know each other better,” Dixmude commanding officer Captain Pierre de Briancon told reporters. “It’s one of our strategic partners.”
The Dixmude came from Singapore, and is to stay docked in the Chinese city for a week.
Both vessels are part of a larger mission, Jeanne d’Arc 2015, which is taking the group from the Indian Ocean through the South China Sea and to the Sea of Japan over five months.
“We come to the Pacific because a lot of economic interests are here,” De Briancon said. “It’s also because maritime traffic is mostly here in the Pacific. We want to protect it.”
The visit also comes amid rising tensions in the South China Sea between China and some of its Asian neighbors, including the Philippines and Vietnam, over competing territorial claims.
US officials on Friday said that China has dramatically ramped up its land reclamation efforts in the South China Sea this year, building artificial islands at an unprecedented pace.
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