This summer, the French military will deploy around 20 warplanes, including the Rafale, to the Asia-Pacific region, where French President Emmanuel Macron wants to turn France into a “balancing force” between China and the United States, AFP and News reported. ro.

French soldiers prepare the Rafale machine at the base of Saint-DizierPhoto: Agerpres

“Beginning from June 25 until August 3, the Air and Space Forces will deploy approximately 20 aircraft from Hexagon as close as possible to their territories in the Asia-Pacific region,” the French military said in a statement on Wednesday.

This mission, called “Pégase 23”, is to mobilize 320 airmen, 55 tons of cargo, ten Rafale aircraft, five A330 MRTT Phénix transport aircraft and four A400M (type aircraft).

They will make 11 stops in ten countries as part of exchanges with partner armies. After a technical stop at the air base of the French armed forces in the United Arab Emirates (FFEAU), the mission will take part in July “in exercises on the (US) island of Guam and in Hawaii” in parallel with the deployment of the device to the armed forces of New Caledonia and French Polynesia.

Starting on July 24 and ending on August 3, the return will be interspersed with stops in South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Qatar and Djibouti, “through a series of joint exercises” and discussions in the areas of space, humanitarian aid and disaster management.

France is trying to regain its position in the Indo-Pacific region

Emmanuel Macron has made the “Indo-Pacific” (Asia-Pacific) region a strategic priority, a vast area from the coast of East Africa to the coast of Western America, in which France owns numerous territories and maritime spaces.

In the Asia-Pacific region, France occupies the largest part of the French Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) – the second largest in the world – some seven territories, from Reunion to New Caledonia and Tahiti, home to 1.65 million French citizens.

In September 2021, Paris was dealt a sharp blow by the creation of the AUKUS alliance between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, which forced the government in Canberra to cancel a mega-contract for the purchase of 12 French conventional submarines that were to be built in Australia.

Canberra then decided to acquire American and British nuclear submarines, a major change for a country with weak nuclear capabilities.