French amphibious carrier visits Japan ahead of Pacific show of power

[nitpicker]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-japan-france-navy-idUKKBN17V04M

World News | Sat Apr 29, 2017 | 7:46am BST

French amphibious carrier visits Japan ahead of Pacific show of power

By Nobuhiro Kubo | SASEBO

As tension spikes on the Korean peninsula, a French amphibious assault carrier sailed into Japan's naval base of Sasebo on Saturday ahead of drills that risk upsetting China, which faces U.S. 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, practicing amphibious landings around Tinian, an island about 2,500 km (1,553 miles) south of the Japanese capital of Tokyo. The drills, involving 700 troops, were planned before Saturday'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 the United States 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, a close U.S. ally that has Asia's second-strongest navy after China. 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 in a statement.
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The Mistral, which left France in February, can carry up to 35 helicopters and four landing barges, besides several hundred soldiers. It will stay in Sasebo until May 5.
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