A French frigate is docked at Zhanjiang in Guangdong province this week for a good will visit, and two Australian naval vessels will, in the coming days, engage in bilateral exercises with Chinese warships. After they conclude their activities with the Chinese navy, all three of these ships should head for Subi Reef and other (formerly) low-tide elevations in the South China Sea.
There has been much talk about American allies joining it in combined freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS) like the one the USS Lassen carried out late Monday. Such cooperation would be well and good, but it may be even more important for others to carry out FONOPs on their own.
Soldiers of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) navy look on as French navy command ship Dixmude (L9015) arrives at the Wusong naval port in Shanghai, China, May 9, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer.
Unilateral Australian FONOPs, for example, would convey that defending freedom of the seas is a national priority for Canberra outside the confines of the US-Australia alliance. It would signal a willingness to incur Chinese opprobrium all on its own, despite the fact that China is Australia’s top trading partner by a wide margin (Australia’s trade with China is nearly three times larger than its trade with the United States).
Perhaps even more significant would be French FONOPs in the Spratly islands. France is no longer a global power, but it does have global responsibilities. Indeed, it is a resident power in the Pacific: French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna are all French dependencies.
France also has island holdings in the eastern Pacific and southern Indian Ocean (Réunion was in the news earlier this year when debris from MH 370 washed ashore). French concern with freedom of the seas in Asia, then, should extend beyond concerns for its €54 billion of exports to the region.
French FONOPs in the South China Sea would, moreover, signal a renewed commitment to upholding the liberal international order, which has been under strain in Eastern Europe of late. If that order fails in one region, it fails everywhere. It’s about time America’s European partners recognize that.
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