French Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu on Wednesday appeared to rebuff China’s claims of sovereignty over the Taiwan Strait in telling the French Senate that Paris would ensure freedom of navigation in the region.
Lecornu made the remark after French Senator Olivier Cadic brought up security in the Indo-Pacific region during a question-and-answer session.
Cadic said that prior to his visit to Taipei last year with French Senator Alain Richard, who heads the Taiwan Friendship Group, 56 Chinese military aircraft had entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.
Photo: AFP
Taipei continues to be harassed by Beijing, which has sent 55 percent more military aircraft toward Taiwan so far this year compared with the same period last year, he said.
In addition, Chinese and Russian warships sailed past waters near Japan on July 4, he said, adding that French Navy Chief of Staff Pierre Vandier had said that China is threatening more countries around the South China Sea more frequently.
“The militarization and polarization in the Indo-Pacific region are unfortunate facts, and France should respond to them,” he said, asking the minister about how to enhance the country’s military presence in the region.
He then asked Lecornu about Taiwan issues, given that China last month claimed ownership of the Taiwan Strait as the French Senate is next week to welcome Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃).
“Regarding the measures France takes to ensure the freedom of navigation in the Taiwan Strait, what can we tell the speaker?” he asked.
Lecornu said that France would protect that freedom.
“Diplomatically, it is France’s stance that Taiwan and China should keep communicating. Militarily, without a doubt, France would ensure the freedom of navigation protected by international laws,” he said.
He said that the patrolling missions in international waters are part of the efforts to ensure that freedom, adding that sending nuclear-powered submarines to patrol the South China Sea would “urge other countries to follow the international law of the sea.”
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday last week said that the Taiwan Strait was not international waters and that China has “sovereign rights and jurisdiction” over it.
The US Department of State issued a statement on Saturday last week saying that “the Taiwan Strait is an international waterway.”
Although Lecornu did not mention the Strait specifically, his statement made France the first European country to support Taiwan on the issue and reiterate the importance of the freedom of navigation.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
RSS