The Ministry of National Defense has issued a statement saying that it was aware that two French Navy vessels approached Taiwan earlier in the month. The statement comes just hours after Taiwanese online news outlet Storm Media Group published an article accusing the military of failing to identify the ships.
According to the article, two French Navy ships, a Lafayette-class frigate and a Mistral-class amphibious assault ship both sailed past Taiwan on May 7. The amphibious assault ship came within 25 nautical miles of Taiwan’s eastern coast. The Lafayette-class frigate sailed up the opposite side of the island, following the Taiwan Strait’s Cross-Strait Median.
At the time, Taiwan’s military was in the midst of its annual Han Kuang Exercise. The article says that military radar indicated that the Mistral-class assault ship was around the same size as a fishing boat. The article says that the military only became aware of the warship when a transport plane encountered it near an air force base.
France’s representative office in Taiwan says that the amphibious assault ship was sailing to Shanghai with recently graduated naval officers for a friendly visit.
The defense ministry statement says that the two French Naval vessels never entered Taiwanese waters. The statement also says that the military was aware of the two ships’ presence at the time, and of their recent return voyage.