Opinion | How the French military’s ‘political messengers’ are countering Beijing in the South China Sea
France’s air and sea presence in the region asserts its support for a maritime security order based on shared rules and norms, writes Mathieu Duchâtel
Since July 27, the French Air Force has had three Rafale B fighter jets, one A400M troop transporter and a C135 refuelling tanker in Australia’s Northern Territory.
The deployment is part of Pitch Black, an annual multilateral joint exercise described by the Australian host as “pivotal to ensuring [the] air force remains ready to respond whenever the Australian government requires”.
It will be followed by Mission Pegase in August, when a French Air Force contingent is to visit Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and India.
The French Ministry of Armed Forces describes that mission as helping to “deepen our relations with our main partner countries”, “maintain operational condition so that the air force can be deployed anywhere in the world and showcase France’s power projection capacities and defence aeronautics industry”.
The contingent will transit through the southern tip of the South China Sea, providing France with a new occasion to assert what it sees as its freedom of navigation and overflight under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS.