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According to Taiwanese media, a French warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait this month
Originally published on AntiWar
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has called on European countries to send warships through the Taiwan Strait, patrols that Beijing would view as provocations.
“Europe must in fact be very present on this issue [of Taiwan], which concerns us economically, commercially and technologically,” Borrell wrote in an op-ed for the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.
“That is why I call on European navies to patrol the Taiwan Strait to signify Europe’s commitment to freedom of navigation in this absolutely crucial area. At the same time, we must be vigilant against provocations and overbidding,” he added.
Borrell’s comments appear to be a rebuke to French President Emmanuel Macron’s warning that Europe should not follow the US into a conflict with China over Taiwan.
“The question Europeans need to answer … is it in our interest to accelerate [a crisis] on Taiwan? No. The worse thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the US agenda and a Chinese overreaction,” Macron said earlier this month.
Despite Macron’s comments, Taiwanese media reported that a French warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait from April 9 to 10. The US frequently sends warships through Taiwan Strait, but European transits are rare. The last known French transit through the Strait took place in October 2021.
France has been the only EU country to send warships through the Taiwan Strait in recent years. In 2021, Germany deployed a naval vessel to the Asia Pacific for the first time in almost two decades, which transited the South China Sea but avoided the Taiwan Strait.
