FRENCH Ambassador Thiery Mathou said the February visit of President François Hollande to the Philippines renewed the once-sedate relationship between the two countries.
“Although we had relations before, the visit of our President François Hollande triggered the development of our relations, and we realize what we knew already, that the Philippines is an important country,” Mathou said at the sideline of the Bastille Day celebration at his residence in Makati City.
Mathou said France and the Philippines have a long history of agreements in different sectors with the latest on defense cooperation. He added that the defense pact is not similar to what the country signed with the United States.
“It is an agreement to exchange expertise. To exchange point of views. To discuss technology and equipment. It is quite a broad agreement. It is the occasion for us to discuss different issues related to defense in the Philippines,” the envoy pointed out.
According to Mathou, the French has a naval station in one of their colonies in the Southern Pacific Ocean, and will now make port calls on the Philippines ports for refueling, along with rest and recreation for its crew.
In May, French stealth frigate Le Guepratte docked at the Manila South Harbor during a training exercise in the southern oceans.
Although joint military exercises are not in the plans yet, Mathou said France is ready to assist the Philippines in modernizing its military.
“France is one of the world’s leaders in term of defense equipment, I am sure you know we made some important deals recently in the region. In Australia we finalized historic deal and we are ready to discuss with the Philippines should they like,” Mathou added.
On the South China Sea ruling, Mathou said every country should abide with the international law.
“We say all the parties do everything they can to reduce the tension and to engage in the discussions. We can engage in multilateral arenas, actually. We do what we do and we just discuss with all stakeholders. We say—Hey look it is in the interest of everybody to lessen the tension,” he said.
Mathou is also confident war will not break out in the region because of the tension in the South China Sea. He added that it is normal for countries to flex their military muscle.
Image credits: Recto Mercene