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By Ryan Chan
China News Reporter
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A Newsweek map shows how an aircraft carrier sent by France, a NATO member, carried out its mission in the contested Western Pacific Ocean, including in the South China Sea.
The French Armed Forces did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.
Why It Matters
France dispatched its only aircraft carrier, the nuclear-powered FS Charles de Gaulle, for a five-month mission to the Indo-Pacific region in November last year. This marked the first French aircraft carrier deployment from Europe to the Pacific Ocean in over five decades.
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While China and the United States are competing for influence in the Indo-Pacific region, France has called itself an "Indo-Pacific nation," as it is the only European Union member to have territories there, home to more than 1.6 million French citizens and 7,000 soldiers, according to Reuters.
What to Know
The Charles de Gaulle and its strike group reached the edge of the Western Pacific Ocean in late January as it visited the Indonesian island of Lombok, following a multinational exercise conducted in the Eastern Indian Ocean around three waterways in Indonesia.
The French aircraft carrier then transited northward and reached the waters south and east of the Philippines—the Celebes Sea and the Philippine Sea—for a large-scale trilateral exercise with aircraft carriers sent by the United States and Japan from February 7 to 18.
After the tri-carrier drill, the Charles de Gaulle entered the South China Sea, where the Philippines and China have territorial disputes, for an exercise with the Philippine military and made an "unprecedented stopover" in the Southeast Asian country on February 21.
On Sunday, the French aircraft carrier sent four fighter jets for an air combat exercise with six Malaysian combat aircraft over the South China Sea off the eastern coast of peninsular Malaysia, and it hosted senior officials from the Malaysian defense ministry and armed forces.
This showed the will of France to regularly deploy military units to the Indo-Pacific region from its mainland in Europe to enforce international law, defend sovereignty and protect free and open access to common spaces, the French Embassy in Malaysia said.
What People Are Saying
The French Embassy in Malaysia said in a statement on Monday: "Malaysia and France are long-standing defense partners, and France highly values its defense cooperation with Malaysia, a cooperation which is nourished by high-level meetings."
Rear Admiral Jacques Mallard, commander of the Charles de Gaulle carrier strike group, said on February 23 during a visit to the Philippines: "We are building experience in the area and we are constructing bonds. And there's nothing that is declared against anybody."
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France's Indo-Pacific Strategy read: "The French strategy in the Indo‑Pacific seeks to maintain an area that is open and inclusive, free of all forms of coercion and founded on multilateralism and the respect of international law."
What Happens Next
It remains to be seen whether other European nations will send their aircraft carriers to the Indo-Pacific region in the future. In addition to France, the United States has one aircraft carrier currently deployed in the Western Pacific Ocean and a second one stationed in Japan. China has two aircraft carriers in service.
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