France's only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines on Sunday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in some disputed waters in the South China Sea. The show of firepower however, only made themselves look like marionettes controlled by Washington via Manila from behind the curtain.

Although the French side claims its aircraft carrier's engagement with "security allies" was to promote "regional security", that is obviously a poor excuse only serving to highlight how inopportune the French navy's presence in the waters is.

"We aim to deepen our cooperation with regional partners with whom we share common values such as upholding international law and ensuring freedom of navigation in shared maritime spaces," French ambassador to Manila Marie Fontanel said in a news conference on Sunday on the Charles de Gaulle's flight deck. The aircraft carrier docked on Friday at Subic Bay, a former US Naval base northwest of Manila.

"Our presence is a constant reminder of the importance to promote and to protect what unites us all — international law and cooperation," Fontanel added.

But that's just US cliches to exculpate its divisive, meddling and coercive "Indo-Pacific" strategy targeting China and a means of marshalling its allies and partners to act as its pawns to implement that strategy. That in turn emboldens the Philippines to continuously provoke China over its maritime disputes with China.

It is pity that such a major Western country that takes pride in upholding its strategic autonomy should condescend to take a leaf out of the United States' hegemony manual, and lower itself to act as a US pawn in the waters half way around the world from its homeland where it has no disputes with any regional countries.

If a water area being a busy shipping route for international logistics can be accepted as an excuse for external parties to intervene in local situations, even when the waters are tranquil — a pretext of the US and all its allies covering up the meddling nature of their presence in the South China Sea under the excuse of safeguarding "freedom of navigation", "rules-based order" and "laws" — there will be no such thing as real freedom of navigation, rules-based order or international laws.

The Charles de Gaulle has been deployed in the "Indo-Pacific" for more than two months. During that period of time, the return of the "America first" Donald Trump administration has prompted an overhaul of the US' domestic and foreign policies, which has left many allies and partners, including France, high and dry over some burning issues, ranging from trade and climate change to the Ukraine crisis.

With the French leader visiting Washington this week with the aim of keeping bilateral ties on the right track, Paris should reflect on the rationality of France continuing to stick to the former US administration's "Indo-Pacific" strategy in the South China Sea. A strategy that has met a cold shoulder from a majority of local countries.