France is a military power in Europe and even in the world, not only does it have the only nuclear aircraft carrier other than the United States, but it is also the world's third nuclear power after the United States and Russia, and it also has independent research and development capabilities for advanced equipment including fourth-generation fighters and third-generation main battle tanks. Objectively speaking, with these things in its hands, France can be said to be a military power second only to the United States in NATO. However, despite this, if France "can't think of it" for a while and vainly tries to "fight one against two" to face two world powers at the same time, it is actually unrealistic.
The current French president, Emmanuel Macron, is one of the few presidents in France in recent years who wants to make a difference, and we need to admit this. However, although Macron has the ambition to become the "next de Gaulle", he does not necessarily have the ability and courage to become the "next de Gaulle". Even many times, some of the decisions made by Macron are beyond France's national and military strength. For example, although many countries in Europe and the United States have been clamoring to "send troops to Ukraine", except for some people who arrived in Ukraine in their "personal name", there are indeed very few countries that have sent troops to Ukraine in an organized manner, in addition to Poland, Georgia, etc., which are extremely anti-Russian, France is also one of them. A few days ago, 100 members of the vanguard of the French Foreign Legion, an elite unit of the French army, arrived near Chasov Yar, Udon, and carried 10 "Caesar" truck guns. The direct arrival of French troops in Ukraine is truly extraordinary.
Not only that, but it is very likely that these 100 people are only the vanguard of the "pathfinder", and there is already public information that 1,500 French troops have been stationed in Romania and 500 have entered Bulgaria. It is also said that these people will also go to Ukraine, and many of these people are the "elite troops" of the French army that were previously evacuated from Africa, the "Licorne" rapid reaction force.
Obviously, France's move is to use military intervention in Ukraine to create a "prestige" for the French army in Europe, enhance France's military influence in Europe, and hope to make Europe recognize France's so-called "first brother in Europe". However, what is unexpected is that the ambitions of France and Macron do not stop at Ukraine.
Recently, the United States and the Philippines have launched a large-scale so-called "shoulder-to-shoulder" joint military exercise. In addition to the United States and the Philippines, the United States has invited a number of countries to participate in the exercise, but for various reasons, many countries have only sent a small number of observers to observe the exercise, and have not directly participated in the exercise, but France is not among these countries that are only "observing".
According to relevant sources, the "shoulder-to-shoulder" military exercise will include the participation of 11,000 U.S. troops, more than 5,000 Philippine troops, more than 100 French troops and more than 100 Australian troops. The French Navy's current frigate F734 (F-734) will also participate in the exercise, which is the first time France has participated in the annual U.S.-Philippine Balikatan exercise.
Obviously, France's move is on the one hand to test its ability to project its military power into the Asia-Pacific region, and on the other hand, it is to make its presence feel in the Asia-Pacific region and show its force. And we know that the area of this US-Philippine military exercise "coincidentally" is only more than 200 kilometers away from Scarborough Shoal, which has exceeded the territorial waters of the Philippines. And what is the meaning behind the fact that France actually came here to participate in such an exercise, it is self-evident!
However, although France's actions are "crazy", in fact, its crazy actions have exposed France's military strength compared to real world powers. According to the information that has been made public, shortly after the vanguard of the French army arrived in Slavyansk near Chasov Yar, it was subjected to the "key care" of the Russian army, and the Russian army "did not emphasize martial virtues" and did not fight with the French army at all, but directly used tactical missiles to carry out long-range strikes on the French army. It's a pity that these French troops have not yet seen the face of the Russian army, and there are already more than 40 casualties, which can be described as a loss of nearly half!
The "Portuguese Moon" frigate dispatched by the French army to the South China Sea this time belongs to the French Navy's "Flower Moon" class frigate, with a displacement of only more than 2,000 tons, and is armed with only two Exocet anti-ship missiles, and its overall combat power is not as good as the 056A, which is more than 1,000 tons. It can be seen that the strength of the French Army is completely unequal compared with that of the Russian army, and there is also a big gap between the strength of the French Navy and our Navy.
In this situation of completely unequal strength, France or Macron has to rush to the front line of the so-called "anti-Russian and anti-China", which is really a bit self-defeating.