Taiwan military says it fully identified passing French frigates

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said Friday it had been closely monitoring two French military vessels that passed near Taiwan earlier this month, and there was no truth to a local media report that it had failed to identify the ships.

The ministry said one of the vessels was a Mistral-class amphibious assault ship that passed east of Taiwan on May 6, while the other was a La Fayette-class frigate that sailed through the Taiwan Strait the following day.

In a statement, the defense ministry said it was on top of the situation as the two French vessels sailed northward past Taiwan and it had put response measures in place.

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