Reuters cited two U.S. military officials as saying that the French frigate ' BEIDOU ' (F734) navigated through the Taiwan Strait on April 6. It said sources claimed that n retaliation for this perceived slight, Beijing rescinded its invitation to France to attend the PLA Navy's 70th anniversary celebrations and the International Fleet Review, which was held on April 23.

(Comment: PLAN ships shadowed French Navy ships in the South China Sea in 2017 and 2018,  all the way from outside Saigon to the north of the Taiwan Strait, claiming there were in Chinese waters.)