While China has engaged in military maneuvers off Taiwan with the aim, according to official Chinese media, of training for a blockade of the island, the fear of an invasion of Taiwan by Beijing is more topical. than ever.
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"
Against the Chinese Navy, we will win if we fight together, in coalition
", declared the Chief of Staff of the National Navy before the National Defense and Armed Forces Commission of the National Assembly, alerting on the considerable reinforcement of the Chinese naval force in recent years.
“
I have spent the last two years explaining everywhere that we are witnessing a naval rearmament movement unprecedented since the Second World War.
In 2030, the tonnage of the Chinese Navy will be 2.5 times greater than that of the American Navy
,” insisted Admiral Pierre Vandier, whose remarks were reported by the Opex360 site specializing in defense issues.
"
At present, the Chinese are building a fleet of five icebreakers to afford the possibility of switching their forces from the Pacific to the Atlantic, with the friendship of the Russians
", also pointed out the CEMN.
“
My Norwegian counterpart, whom I met in March, did not tell me about the Russian fleet based in Murmansk, but about the upcoming arrival of the Chinese navy in the Atlantic Ocean.
Soon, it will not be necessary to go to the South China Sea to find Chinese military forces
”.
Admiral Vandier thus pleaded for the next Military Programming Law to take into account the possibility of a global confrontation, of course with China.
Unexpected statement
It is quite rare that a French soldier so openly evokes such a prospect.
"
This is a rather unexpected statement which obviously will not please the Chinese Embassy in France
", commented on Twitter the researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research and China specialist Antoine Bondaz.
“
But basically, the question asked is the right one.
It's not just the United States that has a role to play in maintaining the status quo in the Indo-Pacific
,” the researcher said.
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The Chief of Staff of the French Navy called for two areas of effort for the future LPM.
"
The hardening of training by conducting more demanding and more complex
exercises", as with the Polaris 21 exercise for example, and "
cooperation with our allies
".
“
The systems have to talk to each other and the weapons have to be compatible.
We must prepare the ability to fight together.
Against the Chinese navy, we will win if we fight together, in coalition
.”
“
Despite everything that has been done [...] the Navy will continue to see its size decrease over the next two years.
Since 1945, the navy has never been as small as it is today
,” lamented the former commander of the aircraft carrier
Charles de Gaulle
.
