Naval missions by foreign countries in the Taiwan Strait are about asserting international law, rather than offering provocation, French Office in Taipei Director Franck Paris said yesterday.
Beijing views the narrow, highly strategic strait as Chinese territorial waters and has responded aggressively on occasion to foreign navies sailing there.
“We are careful to send these naval assets into international waters without any provocation,” Paris told reporters.
Photo: Huang Ching-hsuan, Taipei Times
They aimed to send a clear message that international law prevails in the waters and should remain so, added Paris, whose country is chairing G7 for the coming year.
US warships traverse the Taiwan Strait every few months, and some US allies, such as France, Australia, the UK and Canada, have also made occasional transits.
Paris said it has become routine for G7 statements to include language on maintaining the “status quo” across the Strait and opposing use of force or coercion.
“This is a clear message that we repeat all the time, and I think there is a good choreography between a number of G7 partners to send this message,” he said, referring to past naval trips by Canada and the Netherlands, among others.
The last publicly confirmed sailing by a French navy ship in the Strait, a conduit for trade running into billions of US dollars a year, was in 2024.
Three decades ago, France sold Mirage fighter jets and frigates to Taiwan, although the US is the nation’s most important international source of arms.
“These assets are still used by the Taiwanese defense,” Paris said, adding that French companies helped maintain them by providing necessary equipment.
“This is the framework that we are committed to and this framework has not been questioned for years,” he added.
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