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.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
UNKNOWN TRAJECTORY: The storm could move in four possible directions, with the fourth option considered the most threatening to Taiwan, meteorologist Lin De-en said A soon-to-be-formed tropical storm east of the Philippines could begin affecting Taiwan on Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm, to be named Fung-wong (鳳凰), is forecast to approach Taiwan on Tuesday next week and could begin affecting the weather in Taiwan on Wednesday, CWA forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) said, adding that its impact might be amplified by the combined effect with the northeast monsoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the system’s center was 2,800km southeast of Oluanbi (鵝鑾鼻). It was moving northwest at 18kph. Meteorologist Lin De-en (林得恩) on Facebook yesterday wrote that the would-be storm is surrounded by
RSS