French Defence Minister Florence Parly said Paris will dispatch its sole aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the Indian Ocean next year, to defend freedom of navigation.
Photo: French Navy
France “has always stood in the front line in defence of the inalienable right of freedom of navigation in international waters,” Parly told La Provence newspaper.
“Whenever there are infringements of this fundamental principle of international law, as is currently the case in southern China, we shall make a show of our freedom to act and sail in such waters,” she added.