Enhancing Defense Ties? France and China’s Training Initiative
21WIRE
Snipers, handling of portable missiles… Beijing offers to train French soldiers. Keen to rebuild ties with France, Beijing has sent the Ministry of the Armed Forces a list of high-level Chinese military institutions likely to host French officers for training.
Under General de Gaulle’s leadership, France became the first significant Western nation to form diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level with the People’s Republic of China in 1964. In contrast, the United States did not establish diplomatic connections with Beijing until 1979. This new initiative, which will likely displease the White House, arises at a moment when neither France nor the EU can afford to neglect their ties with Beijing.
In light of the tense geopolitical landscape characterised by Trump’s trade disputes and China’s halt of Boeing deliveries, this recent rapprochement represents a welcome shift, as France may seize this opportunity to rejuvenate its military partnership with China.. Intelligence Online has the details….
IMAGE: Chinese President Xi Jinping with President Emmanuel Macron on April 7, 2023, in Guangzhou (Source: POOL)
Antoine Izambard reports for Intelligence Online…
France: Chinese defence attaché woos French armed forces
Beijing sent the French Armed Forces Ministry a list of high-level Chinese military institutes that may be willing to accept French officers for training, in a bid to help rekindle its ties with France.
The two-page document lists 27 Chinese military institutions which might be willing to train foreign soldiers. The names of those institutions have been translated into French and include: the National Defence University” data-trigger=”hover” data-placement=”top” data-template=”” data-html=”true” data-container=”body” data-original-title=”National Defence University”>National Defence University‘s Defence Studies College” data-trigger=”hover” data-placement=”top” data-template=”” data-html=”true” data-container=”body” data-original-title=”Defence Studies College”>Defence Studies College in Beijing, the equivalent of France’s IHEDN, the Ground Force Command School” data-trigger=”hover” data-placement=”top” data-template=”” data-html=”true” data-container=”body” data-original-title=”Ground Force Command School”>Ground Force Command School and the Army Engineering University” data-trigger=”hover” data-placement=”top” data-template=”” data-html=”true” data-container=”body” data-original-title=”Army Engineering University”>Army Engineering University, all based in Nanjing, the Army Engineering University’s Shijiazhuang Campus” data-trigger=”hover” data-placement=”top” data-template=”” data-html=”true” data-container=”body” data-original-title=”Shijiazhuang Campus”>Shijiazhuang Campus, which offers no less than seven different courses (including maintenance of man-portable air defence systems and counter-battery radars), and the Ground Force Academy Campus” data-trigger=”hover” data-placement=”top” data-template=”” data-html=”true” data-container=”body” data-original-title=”Ground Force Academy Campus”>Ground Force Academy Campus, also based in Shijiazhuang, whose courses include sniper training.
No Chinese officers at France’s ‘École de Guerre’
According to our sources, Li Hongfei” data-trigger=”hover” data-placement=”top” data-template=”” data-html=”true” data-container=”body” data-original-title=”Li Hongfei”>Li Hongfei, the defence attaché of the Embassy of China in Paris, reportedly sent that confidential list to the French military command back in December. The 60-year-old general, who arrived in France in 2020 after a posting in Morocco, was making a fresh attempt to convince the French authorities that training their soldiers in China would be to their benefit. Unsurprisingly, France politely declined. Paris has not sent any officers to receive training in Xi Jinping” data-trigger=”focus hover” data-placement=”top” data-template=”” data-html=”true” data-original-title=”Xi Jinping”>Xi Jinping‘s China since the outbreak of the Covid-19″ data-trigger=”focus hover” data-placement=”top” data-template=”” data-html=”true” data-original-title=”Covid-19″>COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, the prestigious French military command academy École de Guerre” data-trigger=”hover” data-placement=”top” data-template=”” data-html=”true” data-container=”body” data-original-title=”École de Guerre”>École de Guerre has not hosted any Chinese officers since 2018. “We felt that China was taking advantage the very high level cursus to glean strategic information”, a French military source told us.
The move from the Chinese defence attaché, an army officer through and through, reflects the increase in efforts from the Chinese embassy’s security staff in recent months. While the Chinese diplomatic and military apparatus has retreated in on itself since the Covid-19 pandemic, several of our sources have observed a recent rise in activity within the security realm. For instance, Li Hongfei, in charge of a team of five Chinese security officials who have presented their credentials to the French authorities, has not shied away from letting the French military command know of his discontent when a French navy frigate passed through the Taiwan Strait, to China’s disliking.
A new superintendent at the Chinese embassy
The Embassy of China, housed in Hôtel Montesquiou on Rue Monsieur in Paris’ upmarket 7th arrondissement, also recently welcomed a new security expert. As we understand, at the start of the year, chief superintendent Yu Yuan” data-trigger=”hover” data-placement=”top” data-template=”” data-html=”true” data-container=”body” data-original-title=”Yu Yuan”>Yu Yuan took up his duties as homeland security attaché. His January arrival was close to that of the new ambassador Deng Li” data-trigger=”hover” data-placement=”top” data-template=”” data-html=”true” data-container=”body” data-original-title=”Deng Li”>Deng Li, an expert on Africa who was previously posted in Turkey. Deng Li’s predecessor, “fighting wolf” Lu Shaye” data-trigger=”hover” data-placement=”top” data-template=”” data-html=”true” data-container=”body” data-original-title=”Lu Shaye”>Lu Shaye, is now Beijing’s special representative to Europe.
Police cooperation between France and China has been patchy, indeed nearly non-existent, since France granted political asylum in 2019 to the wife of former Interpol” data-trigger=”focus hover” data-placement=”top” data-template=”” data-html=”true” data-original-title=”Interpol”>Interpol president Meng Hongwei” data-trigger=”hover” data-placement=”top” data-template=”” data-html=”true” data-container=”body” data-original-title=”Meng Hongwei”>Meng Hongwei. The former Chinese vice minister of public security had disappeared in 2018 before reappearing and being sentenced to 13 years in prison for corruption in 2020. The two countries will probably try to renew ties during a high-level French-Chinese gathering scheduled to take place in June in Beijing. When contacted, the Chinese embassy in Paris did not wish to comment.
See more news from Intelligence Online
________
(TLB) PUBLISHED THIS ARTICLE FROM 21WIRE
SUPPORT THIS INDEPENDENT MEDIA PLATFORM – BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV
VISIT THEIR TELEGRAM CHANNEL
Header featured image (edited) credit: Org. post content. Emphasis added by (TLB)
••••
••••
Stay tuned to …
••••
The Liberty Beacon Project is now expanding at a near exponential rate, and for this we are grateful and excited! But we must also be practical. For 7 years we have not asked for any donations, and have built this project with our own funds as we grew. We are now experiencing ever increasing growing pains due to the large number of websites and projects we represent. So we have just installed donation buttons on our websites and ask that you consider this when you visit them. Nothing is too small. We thank you for all your support and your considerations … (TLB)
••••
Comment Policy: As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence, racism, or personal/abusive attacks on other users. This also applies to trolling, the use of more than one alias, or just intentional mischief. Enforcement of this policy is at the discretion of this websites administrators. Repeat offenders may be blocked or permanently banned without prior warning.
••••
Disclaimer: TLB websites contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, health, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.
••••
Disclaimer: The information and opinions shared are for informational purposes only including, but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material are not intended as medical advice or instruction. Nothing mentioned is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Source: TLB