France’s navy chief said China will eventually have to play a bigger role in efforts to restore maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, because “the number of vessels it has going through is probably insufficient,” Admiral Nicolas Vaujour said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
“We have not seen China’s navy step in to reopen the strait,” Vaujour told the War & Peace security conference in Paris. He acknowledged there is “direct political dialogue between Chinese and Iranian authorities to ensure that a certain number of vessels can pass,” but added, “Will that be enough to restore normal traffic flows? I don’t believe so.”
Vaujour said “China will probably have to engage more directly in the debate and show its impatience with the fact that the strait remains closed.” He explained that France is trying to bring multiple countries together first on the political level “to determine the conditions under which the strait could be reopened in a lasting way.”
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The Reuters article noted that militaries “would ultimately be needed to monitor that reopening,” and France is looking at the model of the previous EU‑led Agenor mission that operated in the strait. Vaujour also said forces were assessing whether mines had been laid and would need to be cleared, though “as of today, [mining] has not been established.”
“This is obviously not a question for France alone,” he said, highlighting the involvement of partner countries, Gulf states, the United States and other European nations in the effort.
