MANILA — France is eyeing to sell submarines to the Philippines, saying it is ready to partner with the Southeast Asian country to help it acquire its submarine fleet.

French Ambassador Michèle Boccoz said his country is ready to work with the Philippines and help it protect its sovereignty and sovereign rights as part of France’s Indo-Pacific strategy.

"We are ready. We can provide this collaboration in this very important domain. Our stance is a stance also of protecting sovereignty, being in the position to defend sovereignty and the sovereign rights,” Boccoz said.

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“France is obviously committed to working more closely with the Philippines and have more strategic relations with the Philippines. Of course, we are ready should the Philippines make the decision," she said.

Boccoz said France is ready to help the Philippines modernize its Armed Forces, noting President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr's statement in his State of the Nation Address on his administration’s commitment to protect the country's territorial integrity.

The envoy added that she has discussed areas of cooperation with Marcos, including on modernizing the Navy, on energy and on food security.

“We definitely are ready to partner with the Philippines on that, in providing the force.”

SUBMARINE ACQUISITION

Nicolas de la Villamarque, vice president for India and Asia-Pacific of the French submarine builder Naval Group, said it is proposing to the Philippines a government-to-government scheme for the latter to acquire two submarines that would include armament like submarine to surface missile.

Their submarines, he said, are state-of-the-art and would be interoperable and compatible with NATO standards, adding that they are ready to share knowledge and technology with their Philippine counterparts.

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“What we are proposing is a government-to-government scheme, a global cooperation, on the frame of a partnership. So the question is not just about acquiring a submarine," Villamarque said.

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"It’s much more about what we can provide in a global partnership, in terms of education, in terms of training, in terms of transfer of technology," he added.

Talks are ongoing between both sides, he disclosed, with several discussions still expected.

Rear Admiral Bertrand Dumoulin, deputy admiral in charge of the French Oceanic and Strategic Force (ALFOST), said submarines can serve as a deterrent and add credibility to the the country's armed forces.

“We share with the Philippine Navy some common values and some common interests. And I think, in this context, submarines can provide a very strategic added value to deter and to be very credible on the international scene,” Dumoulin said.

DEFENSE

Meanwhile, Dumoulin said France is committed to maintaining security and stability in the region, adding that his country plans to increase its presence in the South China Sea.

The West Philippine Sea lies in the disputed and resource-rich South China Sea, which Beijing claims in near entirety. China continues to ignore a 2016 Arbitral ruling nullifying their claims in the area.

As of June, the Philippine foreign ministry said it already filed more than 300 diplomatic protests over Chinese actions in the disputed waters over the past six years.

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Stratbase Group Founder and President Victor Manhit stressed the importance of working with capable countries to help the Philippines assert its maritime rights.

“We are an archipelagic country and we need to develop our strategic assets to protect and assert our rights,” Manhit said, citing the 2016 arbitral ruling.

“The next step is how should we assert our rights. Is it about investing? That’s very important. But more importantly, also how do we work with countries with technology that can help us strengthen our capacity with regards to the security, maritime challenges of the archipelagic nature of the Philippine," he added.

"France is one of those countries that has that capacity. And hopefully, we can learn from that capacity and move it forward.”

While Boccoz reiterated that its Indo-Pacific vision is not a confrontational one, readiness is still important in cases of conflicts.

If this happens, she said parties "have to be ready" to respond.

"We think that deterrence... is a very good stance and we have to have right tools for that. A submarine force being one of the, probably, most efficient deterrence that we can possibly have and that we can also consider in the defense stance,” she said.