France F200 aircraft tracks China Type 052D destroyer near New Caledonia.

According to a tweet published by the French MoD on December 29, 2022, the French Navy has tracked the Chinese PLA Navy's Type 052D destroyer Yinchuan in the Pacific near the French EEZ.
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Chinese PLA Navy's Type 052D destroyer Yinchuan in the Pacific. (Picture source: French MoD)

An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind.

The difference between the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone is that the first confers full sovereignty over the waters, whereas the second is merely a "sovereign right" which refers to the coastal state's rights below the surface of the sea. The surface waters, as can be seen in the map, are international waters.

France has, due to its Overseas departments and regions that are scattered in all the oceans of Earth, the largest exclusive economic zone of the world. The total EEZ of France is 11,691,000 km2 (4,514,000 sq mi).

About the Type 052D destroyer Yinchuan

Yinchuan (175) is a Type 052D destroyer of the People's Liberation Army Navy. She was commissioned on 12 July 2016. She was launched in 2014 and commissioned on 12 July 2016.

The destroyer has a length of 157 m, a beam of 17 m (55 ft 9 in) and a draught of 6 m (19 ft 8 in). She has a displacement of 7,5000 tons and can carry a complement of 280 sailors.

The powerplant is a combined diesel or gas (CODOG) system with two 28-megawatt (38,000 hp) QC-280 gas turbines and two 6 MW (8,000 hp) MTU 20V 956TB92 diesel engines. The machinery drives two shafts for a maximum speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph).

The Type 052D is also equipped with both variable depth (VDS) and linear towed array sonar. The VDS is deployed through a hinged opening in the transom by a hydraulic lifting mechanism. The VDS body is a streamlined fairing fitted with Y-shaped hydrodynamic vanes for towing stability.

The Type 052D is the first Chinese surface combatant to use canister-based universal VLS, as opposed to the concentric type VLS carried aboard earlier vessels. 64 cells are carried; 32 forward and 32 aft.

The VLS is reportedly an implementation of the GJB 5860-2006 standard. The VLS may fire the extended-range variant of the HHQ-9 surface-to-air missile, YJ-18 anti-ship cruise missiles, and CY-5 anti-submarine missiles.

The Type 052D may be using the joint service integrated datalink system (JSIDLS) and naval common tactical data link (NCTDL). JSIDLS is equivalent to Link 16 and was certified in June 2012. NCTDL is a next-generation two-way encrypted data link with support for electro-optic and laser pod UAVs; it replaces the older HN-900.