French ship visits Japan ahead of Pacific show of power

As tension spikes on the Korean peninsula, a French amphibious assault carrier sailed into Japan’s naval base of Sasebo yesterday ahead of drills that risk upsetting China, which faces US pressure to rein in North Korea’s arms programmes.

The Mistral will lead exercises next month near Guam, along with forces from Japan, the United States and Britain, practising amphibious landings around Tinian, an island about 2,500 kilometres south of the Japanese capital of Tokyo.

The drills, involving 700 troops, were planned before yesterday’s test-firing of a ballistic missile by North Korea, in defiance of world pressure, in what would be its fourth successive unsuccessful missile test since March.

Japan and US are worried by China’s efforts to extend its influence beyond its coastal waters and the South China Sea by acquiring power-projecting aircraft carriers, a concern shared by France, which controls several Pacific islands, including New Caledonia and French Polynesia.

Even as they seek stronger economic ties with China, both France and Britain, which has two navy helicopters aboard the Mistral, are deepening security cooperation with Japan. The Mistral forms part of an amphibious task force mission, the Jeanne d’Arc, that is “a potent support to French diplomacy,” the country’s defence ministry said.

Officials and children’s welcome dances greeted the Mistral in Sasebo, on the western island of Kyushu, a major naval base for Japan’s Maritime Self Defence Force (MSDF) and the US Navy.