French aircraft carrier stages drills with Philippines

France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China.

The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region.

The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets.

Photo: AFP

They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in the South China Sea, Philippine and French officials said.

Last year, the French navy deployed a frigate for the first time to participate in a joint sail with the US and the Philippines in and near the disputed waters.

It was part of the largest annual combat exercises in years by US and Philippine allied forces. The drills, known as Balikatan (Tagalog for “shoulder-to-shoulder”), involved more than 16,000 military personnel.

Photo: EPA-EFE

China strongly criticized the exercises then, saying the Philippines was “ganging up” with countries from outside Asia in an obvious reference to the US and its security partners, adding that the drills could instigate confrontation and undermine regional stability.

France’s recent and ongoing military deployments to the Philippines underscore its “commitment to regional security and the shared goal of strengthening maritime cooperation in the Indo-Pacific,” Armed Forces of the Philippines public affairs head Colonel Xerxes Trinidad said.

The Charles de Gaulle, the only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the world other than those of the US Navy, led a strike group that included three destroyer warships and an oil replenishment vessel in its first-ever visit to the Philippines, French officials said.

France has been shoring up its military engagements with the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations at odds with China in the disputed waters, a key global trade and security route, although it says that those emergency-preparedness actions were not aimed at any particular country.

China has bristled at any presence of foreign forces, especially the US military and its allies, which carry out war drills or patrols in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety. Its claims overlap with those of Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

Meanwhile, Japanese Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani yesterday visited military installations on the main island of Luzon with Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro.

The Philippine News Agency reported that Nakatani and Teodoro discussed bolstering their nations’ strategic defense cooperation, particularly on maritime and air defense, and regional security initiatives.

The pair are to have an in-depth meeting today, and Nakatani is also to meet with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the agency said.

Additional reporting by staff writer