France open to explore tie-up on HADR, maritime security with PH

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 29, 2023): France open to explore tie-up on HADR, maritime security with PH (By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora and Priam Nepomuceno)

MANILA – France is open to exploring possible cooperation with the Philippines in the area of disaster response and maritime security as it emphasized Manila’s importance as a partner in the Indo-Pacific.

In a press conference aboard the French destroyer Lorraine on Wednesday, Rear Admiral Geoffroy d'Andigné, commander of the French Armed Forces in the Asia-Pacific (ALPACI), reiterated Paris' commitment to the “rules-based order” and security of the region.

“I think it is important that we’ll be able to face the challenge of the region – one challenge is the HADR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief), the other is maritime security,” he said.

“On those two fields, it is important that we go on training altogether. This means training with all forces – air, land, navy, coast guard – and I think that will be a good start then we can go on many of other fields further on.”

In the same presser, French Ambassador to the Philippines Michèle Boccoz said Paris and Manila are currently engaged in an “enhanced dialogue” on defense and security.

During the destroyer’s six-day visit to Manila, its commanding officer Capt. Xavier Bagot and Philippine Fleet deputy commander Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad also discussed possible future activities and collaborations between the two navies “for the benefit and betterment of both nations.”

The two talked about previous naval exercises, and Trinidad assured Bagot of the cooperation of the Philippine Navy (PN).

“The invitation will always be there for the French Navy. We will always welcome you. You should be part of every exercise that we have,” Trinidad said.

‘Not confrontational’

The Philippine Navy earlier welcomed the destroyer and its crew when it arrived for a port call at the South Harbor in Manila on June 23.

After docking in Manila, Lorraine is set to make a stop in Sri Lanka and Djibouti before its commissioning.

When the vessel crossed the South China Sea on its way to Japan, Bagot disclosed that they were “escorted by a Chinese ship but in a professional way.”

“It’s not necessary of course, (but) it’s the way it occurs in the area. We don’t mind that, at a condition that it’s professional and not dangerous for our navigation and they do not alter our freedom of navigation,” he said. “We had no dangerous interaction and the other aspect was when we are escorting the multinational carrier strike group with the United States, Japan, Canadian, and French warships, we had no dangerous interaction in this configuration.”

China and other littoral states have overlapping territorial claims with the Philippines over the South China Sea.

In many instances, France had been vocal in its opposition to actions that increases tensions in the vital sea lane, one of the most recent was the near-collision of a Chinese Coast Guard vessel and a Philippine Coast Guard patrol boat off the Spratlys.

D'Andigné, meanwhile, clarified that France’s Indo-Pacific push is not targeted against any country, distancing from the maritime rows over the South China Sea.

“To make something clear, when we do exercise freedom of navigation, we don't do it the way which is really regularly understood under freedom of navigation operations – that is to say, we are not provocative. And we are not aggressive on our action,” he said.

By verifying and conducting passages through the area, France shows its support for a free and open South China Sea, he said.

“We want to verify, show and enforce the fact that freedom of navigation is in application in this area of the world. And this is of a high importance for everybody, not only friends, but everybody,” he said.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1204485