France’s Indo-Pacific foray is going full steam ahead

Extended military deployments in Asia and the pursuit of arms deals with several regional countries are demonstrating France’s desire to play a greater role in the Indo-Pacific
This could work to the Philippines’ benefit as it tries to launch its long-delayed submarine programme

Lucio Blanco Pitlo III

Published: 3:30am, 8 Jul 2023

Why you can trust SCMP

Last week, the French navy’s Aquitaine-class destroyer Lorraine made a port call in the Philippines after departing Japan. The itinerary is part of the ship’s long-duration deployment to the region. The port call coincided with the visit of Rear Admiral Geoffroy d’Andigné, joint commander of the French armed forces in the Asia-Pacific, to Manila where he met senior foreign affairs, defence and military officials.

This demonstrates France’s desire to play a greater role in the Indo-Pacific as a resident power and the growing importance it attaches to challenges in the region’s maritime domain. As Indo-Pacific countries ramp up military spending and diversify their partners to respond to the region’s evolving security landscape, Paris is positioning itself as a reliable defence partner.

Only entering service last year, the Lorraine is one of France’s newest naval ships. Its Indo-Pacific tour is one of its first voyages abroad. The destroyer took part in the evacuation of French and allied nationals in Sudan in April. Last month, it joined US, Japanese and Canadian ships in maritime exercises in the Philippine Sea and South China Sea.

Another French naval vessel, the Floreal-class frigate Prairial, conducted a passing exercise in the South China Sea with Philippine coast guard multi-role response vessel BRP Capones in March. The Prairial also passed through the Taiwan Strait in April. Elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, the third iteration of Exercise La Perouse off the Bay of Bengal saw French ships manoeuvring with their American, Australian, British, Indian and Japanese counterparts in March.

In late April and early May, Exercise Croix du Sud took place in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia in the South Pacific for the first time in five years. One of the largest regular humanitarian help and disaster relief manoeuvres in the region, this year’s round involved 19 countries, including France, Australia, the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga.

French Navy Rear Admiral Geoffroy d’Andigne (centre), commander of the French armed forces in the Asia-Pacific, speaks during a press conference aboard the destroyer Lorraine at the port in Manila on June 28 while Captain Xavier Bagot (left), commander of the Lorraine, and French Ambassador to the Philippines Michele Boccoz listen. Photo: AFP

The momentum at sea is matched by action in the air. France has dispatched 19 aircraft to take part in various Indo-Pacific exercises as part of its Pégase 2023 mission. With a stopover at a French base in the United Arab Emirates, the aircraft travelled more than 11,000 kilometres (6,835 miles) in 30 hours before arriving in Singapore and Malaysia.

From there, they will fly to Guam and Palau to take part in US-led exercises, after which they will visit South Korea, Japan and Indonesia. On the way back, they will pass through Qatar and Djibouti. Such long-duration deployments showcase the capabilities of French aerospace platforms.

France has a large stake in the Indo-Pacific and is the European country with the most capability to project power in the region. It has bases in the UAE and Djibouti, as well as in its overseas territories in Réunion, Mayotte, New Caledonia and French Polynesia, with 8,000 soldiers and 1.65 million French citizens in the region. France has the world’s second-largest exclusive economic zone at 10.2 million sq km, 93 per cent of which is in the Indo-Pacific.

France unveiled its Indo-Pacific strategy in 2019. Going forward, it is likely to increase its deployments and allocate more resources to the region. It could step up its involvement in minilateral exercises to enhance operational readiness and help meet a wide variety of regional security demands.

China’s massive military build-up and simmering flashpoints from the Taiwan Strait to the South and East China seas are driving a spike in defence spending and joint allied drills in the region. The Chinese navy is acquiring access to bases abroad to support its blue water ambitions. A recent deal with the Solomon Islands provides China a footprint in the South Pacific close to New Caledonia.

Why France is flexing its muscles in the South China Sea

The increasingly complex security milieu offers opportunities for the French defence sector. France can be an alternative arms supplier to regional countries shoring up their military capabilities. Paris, for instance, is getting close to securing deals to provide Scorpene submarines to Indonesia and the Philippines, having supplied the same to other Indo-Pacific navies such as India and Malaysia.

Last year, Indonesia also ordered 42 new Rafale fighter jets, the first of which will arrive in 2026. To bridge the gap between now and the full delivery, Jakarta procured 12 Mirage 2000-5 aircraft from Qatar. India also received the last of its batch of 36 Rafales last year. France can be an option for countries moving away from heavily sanctioned Russian arms but with concerns about costlier American platforms.

Malaysia’s first submarine, the Scorpene-class KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, seen near Port Klang outside Kuala Lumpur in 2009. Photo: Reuters

The submarine programme with the Philippines will be big. The Philippines’ lack of subsurface capability makes it an outlier in the first island chain. This is a great irony for a maritime and archipelagic nation, but the country’s bid to sign a submarine contract was torpedoed by the Covid-19 pandemic. As Manila’s economy recovers, France is reviving its bid under the new Marcos administration.

Past deals provide moorings for this game-changing acquisition. France delivered fast patrol boats and an offshore patrol vessel to the Philippine Coast Guard in 2018 and 2019. In 2021, France joined the bilateral Philippine-US maritime exercise Sama-Sama for the first time. Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated his invitation to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr to make a state visit to Paris. Whether the visit can seal the deal or not, France’s Indo-Pacific foray is going full steam ahead.

Lucio Blanco Pitlo III is a Taiwan Fellow and a visiting scholar at National Chengchi University’s Department of Diplomacy and Centre for Foreign Policy Studies