The French Navy nuclear attack submarine SNA Emeraude (S604) and the support ship BSAM Seine (A604) have completed a joint patrol of the South China Sea, the first such mission acknowledged by the French this year.
The Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs confirmed the unopposed transit of the South China Sea by the French warships. It pointed out the navy has conducted several freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea in the past.
France has always emphasized the importance of defending freedom of navigation in the volatile region. It also has exclusive economic zones in its territories on the Indo-Pacific region, and intends to protect its sovereignty and interests.
"This extraordinary patrol has just completed a passage in the South China Sea," tweeted Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly.
"A striking proof of the capacity of our French Navy to deploy far away and for a long time together with our Australian, American and Japanese strategic partners."
"Why such a mission? To enrich our knowledge of this area and affirm that international law is the only rule that is valid, whatever the sea where we sail," she later said.
Parly said France is joining the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries in pushing back against China’s growing militarization and excessive territorial claims in the region.
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| SNA Emeraude |
In June 2019, Parly said France will continue to sail in the South China Sea more than twice a year. She urged like-minded countries to follow to maintain open access to the waters that China illegally claims to own almost in its entirety.
In September of that year, France, Germany and the UK issued a joint statement to the United Nations supporting a judgment by the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague in July 2016 that dismissed as illegal and invalid China's claim to own almost the entire the South China Sea based on its spurious "nine-dash line" map.
The three countries said China's claim to “historic rights” in the South China Sea does not comply with international law.
The transit of the South China Sea by the Emeraude and the Seine almost coincided with a powerful freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) conducted Tuesday by two U.S. Navy nuclear powered aircraft carriers and their carrier strike groups (CSGs).
The Biden administration carried out its third FONOP in Asian waters since it came into power three weeks ago with a FONOP by the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and its CSG 9 and the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) with its CSG 11.
The navy said it “conducted a multitude of exercises aimed at increasing interoperability between assets as well as command and control capabilities" during the dual-carrier FONOP.
“We are committed to ensuring the lawful use of the sea that all nations enjoy under international law,” said Rear Admiral James Kirk, commander of CSG 11.
It was the second two-carrier combat exercise in the South China Sea since the USS Nimitz and the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) did so in July 2020. (11 Feb. 2021)
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